At Home in Provincetown: Plain and Fancy (Provincetown, MA) Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 11:00 am - 4 pm. Tickets are $30 ($25 members) and include admission to the PMPM.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Salem Maritime's Historic House Tours
1675 Narbonne HouseThis Saturday, August 1, as part of the 2009 Salem Maritime Festival the 1675 Narbonne House, the 1762 Derby House, and the 1819 Custom House will be open for free, self-guided or ranger-guided tours. You can sign up for tours at the Orientation Center on Central Wharf in Salem, Mass. Check the event website for schedule.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Antique kitchen tours
Maybe it’s the burgeoning slow food movement, but something about cooking in a brick oven without a thermostat, or over an open fire, sounds lovely. Then again, if the only way to get food to table was the slow, laborious way, I’d probably melt down as my sugar level plummeted. Still, I can imagine I’m a more patient person than I am, perhaps with an open day to spend preparing a feast in a walk-in fireplace, as the aroma of fresh-baked bread wafts through the air…Wouldn’t it be lovely?
If primitive kitchens get your fires burning, you can explore two kitchens of yesteryear via Historic New England on May 9, 2009 in Portsmouth, NH. Get a sense of how eighteenth and nineteenth century cooks got the job done. Visit the Wentworth-Cooldige mansion and its early French-style kitchen, complete with a potager, and the Rundlet-May home, which boasts a Rumford kitchen with a large two-shelf roasting oven, shallow fireplace, and three stew holes.
If you’re still hungry for more, return for the “America’s Kitchens” exhibit which opens June 11, 2009 at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, N.H.
Not yet sated? All of 2009 is the “Year of the Kitchen” at Historic New England. Visit their website to see if other kitchen-related events whet your appetite.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Winter 2008 holiday house tours
Recommended upcoming New England tours
Nantucket Christmas Stroll Annual Holiday House Tour (Nantucket, MA) Friday, December 5, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm (Call for ticket info 508.228.1700.)
New Bedford Preservation Society's Annual Holdiay House Tour (New Bedford, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 4:00 pm-8:00 pm and Sunday, December 7, 2008 1:00 pm-5:00 pm
Pilgrim Hall Museum Holiday House Tour (Plymouth, MA) Saturday and Sunday, December 6 & 7, 2008 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Christmas in Salem (Salem, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 10:00 am-4:30 pm and Sunday, December 7, 2008 11:30 am-4:30 pm
Stockbridge Holiday House Tour (Stockbridge, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm
Newburyport Holiday House Tour (Newburyport, MA) Saturday, December 6, 2008 10:00 am
Westport 22nd Holiday House Tour (Westport, CT) Sunday, December 7, 2008 11:00 am-4:00 pm
Bristol Home for the Holiday House Tour (Bristol, RI) Saturday, December 13, 2008 12:00 pm-5:00 pm
Woodbury 14th Anniversary Holiday House Tour (Woodbury, CT) Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:00 am- 4:00 pm
Woodstock Holiday House Tour (Woodstock, VT) Saturday, December 13, 2008 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Pedrick Store House Update
There’s been progress over at Salem’s timber-frame project on Derby Wharf. Since I last wrote about the Pedrick Store House, much of the two-story, six-bay structure has been raised. It still awaits the rafters and ridge. A close look reveals where the more than 200-year-old, hand-hewn timbers have been patched as part of the National Park Service’s conservation efforts. Despite a little twisting here and there, the structure appears remarkably square overall. Stop by and take a look.
Also, if you're free Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 or 3:00 pm attend a timber framing demonstration on the Wharf.