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The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.
Showing posts with label Author. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Author. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Sarah Orne Jewett, well-known author of So. Berwick, Maine

www.HistoricNewEngland.org
5 Portland Street
South Berwick, Maine 03908


There are actually two houses to visit. The house above, in the middle of town (see below), was built in 1887 is what we toured, and the second house, built 1854 is next door and is now the Visitor's Center.
You might wonder why there is so much shrubbery, it's because Sarah was a lover of lilacs.

Library photos.
There is quite a bit written about Sarah Orne Jewett on Wikipedia, so I'm sharing that website. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Orne_Jewett

Parlor photos
Below is the first edition of Sarah's book, The Country of the Pointed Firs, published in 1896. My husband read this book many years ago, and was familiar with Sarah's works, I was not.

The Dining room has beautiful cobalt blue and white wallpaper and a painting of Sarah Orne Jewett on the wall.

A docent showing my husband a photo.

  The second floor, facing the stained glass, was made by a friend of Sarah's.

  Hallway to Sarah's desk.
The writing desk Sarah used, with a plastic life-size form of her, to give you the image of her sitting there. See above also. To the left is the window to see the town.

Sister Mary's room was quite feminine and had a 1770 flocked wallpaper design. Sarah wrote about it in her book, Deephaven, an excerpt below, clearly, she didn't like her sister's wallpaper.




A guest bedroom, above.

This is Sarah's bedroom, quite a bit different than that of her sister's shown above. Sarah died on this bed, of a stroke in 1909.




We visited Sarah Orne Jewett's house on the same day as The Hamilton House, because they are only about three miles apart.





 I have decided not to use the Comment feature for my blog. If you would like to leave a comment for me or ask a question, please write me at my email: BarbaraPoole@Gmail.com. Thank you.

My reason is because since November 2017 to May 2018, I received no comments, but upon investigating I found that I had indeed received 167 legitimate ones and 1,000 were in the spam folder. Google Blogger had made some changes that I was unaware of. Please be aware that I do not know who reads my blog, I may know who subscribes, but that is all.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Jack Kerouac Was a Man Who Loved Cats. See the Proof.

Lowell, Massachusetts was home to Jack Kerouac, a famous novelist, poet, and "beatnik" for part of his life. Although he has been deceased for almost 96 years, the city still enjoys celebrating his life, especially during his birth month of October. Throughout one week, the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival is held (2017 program on link). An update: To celebrate his birthday, I just read about an On the Road Marathon to be held March 10th and 11th in Lowell.


He was born in Lowell, lived here and in many other places throughout the United States, and was buried here. We have a park named after him, and tourists come to the city to see where he lived.


Over three years ago, I posted a blog post, "There Is A Lot to Like About Lowell -- Jack Kerouac, Life and Times, Birth and Death," which included photos of a place he lived, his cemetery stone, and showed an exhibit of his personal items.  This past year, I had the opportunity to see another exhibit, held during the Doors Open Lowell weekend (selected buildings open to the public). The exhibit is now a permanent fixture at the Allen House (above), built in 1854, which has the office of the current Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), overlooking the Merrimack River (below), not far from my house.

The exhibit is small, although enjoyable, especially if you love cats and Jack. Below, is what you see first, as you enter into the main room of the house.









Above from Jack Kerouac Center for the Public Humanities.
Below is the brochure I received, showcasing the exhibit.