Annual Meeting May 20 – 6:30 pm (Counting House) - At the Old Berwick Historical Society annual meeting, members will experience river history by climbing aboard the gundalow Captain Adams docked at Quamphegan Landing. After the meeting in the Counting House, enjoy the "Sounds Like Old Times" concert with Dave Peloquin and Bob Webb performing American folk and popular music from our collective past. Tenor and baritone harmonizing will be accompanied by guitars and 5-string banjo. For OBHS members - new members are welcome.

Here is the full schedule of gundalow events for everyone--

From gardening to music and theater, from maritime history to Sarah Orne Jewett, here is a busy linuep of educational and performance events, while the gundalow docks at Counting House Park - May 17-27, 2010.

April 22- 7:30 pm (Berwick Academy) - "Stewardship and Archaeological Heritage on Smuttynose Island, Isles of Shoals” – Join Nathan Hamilton for a presentation of the Shoals Marine Laboratory sponsored excavations of the 17th and 18th century historic period fishing station and Haley family operation. The project has focused on recovery and analysis of marine and coastal animal remains.

March 25 - 7:30 pm (Berwick Academy) - "Coopering – Timber, History and Importance” - Ron Raiselis, a cooper for 30 years, will discuss the importance of the coopers who arrived with the first English settlers in the 1620s and how their work was essential to commerce and daily life in the Seacoast area. His talk will include a demonstration of some of these items and their uses.

February 25 - 7:30 pm (Berwick Academy) - "Punkintown – A Village that Once Was” - Join Carol Zamarchi as she explores with description and facts the history of the small, isolated community that became known as Punkintown in Eliot, Maine.

7:30 pm · Berwick Academy
In honor of the bicentennial of the birth of the 16th president, Brad Fletcher offers an examination of Lincoln’s overnight visit to our New Hampshire neighbor in 1860.  
 
In 1860, Lincoln visited the east coast to make his famous Cooper Union Address and visit his eldest son at Phillips Exeter Academy. He had his photograph taken by celebrated 19th century photographer Matthew Brady.  During the New Hampshire stop, Lincoln made speeches and campaigned in several cities, including Dover.

7:30 pm · Berwick Academy
Professor William O. Thomson will share remarkable stories and legends about strange occurrences and ghostly apparitions in the areas they once called home.

7:30 pm · Berwick Academy
Join Matthew Edney of the Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine, for an exploration of the surveys and mapping of the boundaries of Maine and Massachusetts with New Hampshire.  Maps, disputes and boundary issues will be the subject of an illustrated talk sponsored by the Old Berwick Historical Society on Thursday, September 24.

 
The Old Berwick Historical Society's Lighting Up Ball fundraiser offers dancing to modern favorites, socializing, an hors d'oeuvres buffet and contra dancing at Spring Hill Restaurant in South Berwick on Saturday, November 7 starting at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the door and at South Berwick Pharmacy for $35 per person, or $30 per person for tables of 10. Proceeds benefit the Counting House Museum and local history programs.  More information 207-384-0000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A local party tradition with roots in the mill era of the 1800s will be renewed when the Old Berwick Historical Society presents its Lighting Up Ball fundraiser on Saturday evening, November 7.

1:00 pm · 1791 House, Berwick Academy
Archivist Rachel Saliba will lead a walk around the beautiful hilltop where the history of Maine’s oldest school intertwines with that of interesting South Berwick residents of the 1700s and 1800s.

1:00 pm · Counting House · (Rain date June 13)
Discover the small but colorful neighborhood of South Berwick’s old “Upper Landing” and cotton mill, where seafarers once lived and gundalows unloaded cargoes from distant lands.

These bits of local history will be visited on the Old Berwick Historical Society’s Tour of Quamphegan Landing to be held on Saturday, June 6 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm.  This free event led by Wendy Pirsig begins at the Counting House Museum at Main and Liberty Streets, and includes Counting House Park along the Salmon Falls River as well as the surrounding 19th century neighborhood.  The rain date is Saturday, June 13.

The tour coincides on June 6 with South Berwick Kids Day, and families are welcome.