Jewett Brochure 14. 1791 House, Berwick Academy, Academy Street

Built 1791. The oldest school in Maine, Berwick Academy was founded in 1791 as a boys’ private secondary school and voted to admit girls six years later. The Jewett sisters attended school here, as did generations of town children until South Berwick built a high school in 1960. Now the academy is a private day school offering kindergarten through high school. This is the original academy building. When the school outgrew it in the late 1820s, the house was pulled by a team of oxen down Main Street and used as a private residence. In 1966, it was returned to the hilltop in celebration of the school’s 175th anniversary. 

--From the Sarah Orne Jewett Walking Tour brochure by the Jewett Eastman Memorial Committee, trustees of Jewett Eastman House.