Today's blog is about our trip to the Counting House Museum. It's a building where the financial books were kept for the textile mill that used to be down the river from it. When our friends Rob, Tracey and Jordan visited southern Maine, we took them to the adjacent park and waterfalls and then visited the museum. Today's blog will give you a look inside.
(Photo: Rob and Tom visit the Counting House! Credit; R.G.)
LOCATION - The Counting House Museum is Located at 2 Liberty Street, South Berwick, Maine 03908 and borders New Hampshire (on the other side of the river). The Museum is open June-Oct on Sundays from 1pm-4pm, and by appointment. Admission is free, and donations are gratefully accepted.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM - The Counting House Museum, built circa 1830, is located on the banks of the Salmon Falls River, beside a mill dam that powered the looms of a nineteenth-century cotton textile factory.
There were a lot of displays from the cotton mill, like a giant spinning wheel, thimbles and a loom.
Samuel Hale was mill agent until 1869, when he was succeeded by his son Frances. Grandson Samuel Hale ran the corporation through the 1880s until the mill's closure in 1893.
A MUSEUM IN THE 1960s - The Counting House has been owned and maintained as the Counting House Museum by the Old Berwick Historical Society since 1964.
ABOUT THE 2 FLOORS - The first floor was office space for the Company's Agent and Paymaster, now contains changing exhibits as well as about 10,000 historic records and photos of South Berwick and the surrounding area.
AN ACTUAL BALLROOM UPSTAIRS! - Upstairs is one of northern New England's last textile mill ballrooms, now used for the permanent exhibit, Village Voices, as well as for meetings and programs. Years ago, the mill entertained dancers each autumn when gas lamps were illuminated for a "Lighting Up Ball." The Counting House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of South Berwick Historic District.
NEXT: The Ghost in the Counting House Museum
I love history!
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