Sarah Orne Jewett House
The Sarah Orne Jewett House honors the life and times of Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), a respected author and poet who grew up in a wealthy family living in a South Berwick home in Maine, near the New Hampshire border. (Her formal name is Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett.) South Berwick currently has a population of approximately 7,500 residents, which is two to three times the population of residents living there during Jewett’s day.
According to southberwickmaine.org: “In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Sarah Orne-Jewett was becoming famous with her writings. Her house, which still stands today, was used by her father for his medical practice. Earlier in her life, Jewett lived with her mother and sister next door in a building which is now the town library. Then the family moved back into the larger home. Jewett spent her life writing in that house.”
Her Writing
She often wrote about the challenges of living along the shores of Maine during the late 1800s. Her best-known work is The Country of the Pointed Firs, which we found at booksshouldbefree.com. We also enjoyed reading A Country Doctor, published in 1884. More information about the author and her writings can be found here: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com.
Jewett’s grandfather built a ship that sailed around the globe, and her writing may have been influenced by his stories of life at sea and those who were left behind.
“To let God make us, instead of painfully trying to make ourselves; to follow the path that his love shows us, instead of through conceit or cowardice or mockery choosing another; to trust Him for our strength and fitness as the flowers do, simply giving ourselves back to Him in grateful service—this is to keep the laws that give us the freedom of the city in which there is no longer any night of bewilderment or ignorance or uncertainty.” — Sarah Orne Jewett
A critically-acclaimed biography about the writer was published by Paula Blanchard in 1994. See cover image below.
The Sarah Orne Jewett House is the first stop on our Maine Author Adventures Trail.
Patricia Smart
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