Hamilton House Offers Popular Servant Tour

SOUTH BERWICK—
On Saturday, July 9, at 5:30 p.m. go behind-the-scenes of Historic New England’s Hamilton House as part of The Way They Were tour. This special talk and guided tour explores the lives of servants and hired help in the early twentieth century, focusing on what it was like to live and work in the “back” of the house. On the tour, visitors view areas of the house rarely seen by the general public, including the third and fourth floors where staff and caretakers lived.
Hamilton House, built circa 1785, became the summer home of the well-to-do Tyson family of Boston in 1897. The Tyson’s transformed Hamilton House into a beautiful retreat with Colonial Revival interiors, elaborate gardens, wooded walking and riding trails, and a romantic little garden cottage for their own pleasure and the entertainment of family and friends. While most house tours detail the lifestyles of wealthy owners, The Way They Were tour offers a glimpse into the lives of the class that served them. As part of the tour, hear about the daily routines of domestics, grounds keepers and other workers whose toil made the leisurely lifestyles of the Tyson’s, and other wealthy New England families, possible. Explore side yards and back stairways once frequented by the hired help, including a visit to the fourth floor attic where servants enjoyed the stunning view of the Salmon Falls River from the mansion’s skylight.
The Way They Were tour will begin at the Hamilton Garden Cottage on Saturday, July 9 at 5:30. The program will be repeated on August 20 at 5:30 p.m. and September 24 at 10 a.m. Admission: $8 for Historic New England members and $12 for non-members. Space is limited and these popular tours sell out quickly. Sorry, no tickets sold at the door. To purchase tickets, call the Southern Maine office of Historic New England at 207-384-2454 or online at www.historicnewengland.org.
Hamilton House is located at 40 Vaughan’s Lane, South Berwick, Maine, and is one of 36 historic properties owned and operated by Historic New England, the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the country. For more information please visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org.
Photo caption: In the garden at the Hamilton House. (Photo courtesy Historic New England)

Governor LePage Signs Budget

AUGUSTA—
Monday afternoon, June 20, after a careful, businesslike approach examining the details; Governor Paul LePage put his signature on the biennial budget that reduces taxes for Mainers and businesses, reforms the State pension system and makes changes to welfare programs.
“In February legislators were given a plan which was very different from previous budgets with a focus on creating jobs, lowering taxes, reforming welfare and realigning spending to better reflect today’s realities. The budget I signed today reflects a step toward fiscal responsibility and a change in the way we must operate as a State,” said Governor LePage.
“I am encouraged by some of the work done and the thoughtful debates that were involved during this budgetary process. The State will now move toward a more sustainable pension system that Maine can afford and current and future retirees will benefit from.”
The two-year budget includes tax reform which provides $150 million in tax relief – including new tax code changes which conform to federal guidelines and a reduction in Maine’s top income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 7.95 percent that is expected eliminate tax payments for 70,000 low-income Mainers. This represents the largest tax cut in Maine history.
Welfare reform is also a part of the 2012-2013 budget which emphasizes Maine will no longer be considered a welfare destination state. A new 5-year limit on welfare benefits, which aligns Maine with other states and conforms to federal law, will go into effect. The limit does allow for certain exemptions for hardship cases – including those involving the elderly and disabled.
Drug testing will also be implemented for welfare recipients convicted of drug crimes and those who violate welfare rules will face stricter sanctions. A first offense will result in the loss of adult benefits and a second offense may lead to termination of full family benefits.
In addition, Dirigo Health will be phased out with an end date of January 1, 2014 and legal noncitizens will no longer be eligible for MaineCare benefits as of July 1, 2011. However, the Governor has made it clear that more work needs to be done. “We must continue to make these types of changes to the system, not only to achieve significant savings, but to encourage Mainers to become self-sufficient. This is a down payment on welfare reform and, after implementing these changes and gauging the results, I look forward to doing more,” added the Governor.
Both leadership in the House and Senate lauded Governor LePage for endorsing the budget Monday.
House Speaker Robert Nutting offered, “I am delighted that Governor Paul LePage today signed the biennial budget. This plan mirrors the reforms the Governor called for shortly after taking office. Among the highlights are $150 million in tax cuts, the largest in Maine history, and pension reform that will save taxpayers billions in the years to come. This budget also includes no cuts to education or programs that protect Maine’s most vulnerable. It’s also free of gimmicks like state shutdown days.”
“It is a validation of the outstanding work done by the Appropriations Committee and of the decision by Republican legislative leaders to pursue a bipartisan two-thirds budget,” said Senate President Kevin Raye. “By affording the minority party the respect of inclusion in the budget process we were able to work through our differences and secure a thoughtful budget that honors the core principles advanced by Governor LePage,” Raye added.
Senate Majority Leader Jonathan Courtney echoed his colleagues’ sentiments. “In just 40 days the Governor gave us a document that included substantial reforms to taxes, pension and our welfare system, and this vision survived the legislative process. It helps us take a major step in moving Maine forward,” Courtney said.

FBC Kittery Point Celebrates 200th Anniversary

KITTERY POINT—
On Sunday, June 26, 2011, First Baptist Church of Kittery Point will host a memorial service at 10:30 a.m. commemorating its 200th anniversary.
Though the church is hosting its 200th anniversary, FBC Kittery Point is actually quite a bit older than 200 years. On September 25, 1682, a Reverend Isaac Hull and William Screven of Boston organized a Baptist church in Kittery before it was Maine. At that time, the state church was the Church of England because Maine was a part of colonial Massachusetts and was governed by the crown of England. Hull and Screven found themselves facing numerous persecutions due to their promoting a church apart from the Church of England, and their endorsement of baptism by full immersion as opposed to infant baptism. Eventually, Screven and a handful of others decided to leave Kittery with a handful of members remaining and went to Charleston, South Carolina.
There, Screven organized a church and eventually the beginnings of the Southern Baptist Convention. Though FBC Kittery Point was established earlier, it wasn’t until 1811 that it was incorporated as a church with the original name The First Baptist Society in Kittery.
In 1827, the church met in the old Brave Boat Harbor Schoolhouse. One of the Frisbee family, who were prominent members of Kittery and the church, Darius Frisbee, gave land and money for a meeting house to be built on Hutchins Corner (Lewis Square). The new church was built and dedicated in 1875 and the bell was placed in the belfry in 1885. This is the present building and location of FBC Kittery Point.
In 1961, the name was changed to First Baptist Church of Kittery Point, Maine, and an educational annex was added to the building in the ’69. The Victorian sanctuary was restored in 1973 and can be seen today. Baptist Church of Kittery Point welcomes all for it’s 200th anniversary on Sunday, June 26, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. There will be a small reception to follow the service. All are welcome to attend.
Photo caption: The First Baptist Church of Kittery Point will celebrate its 200th anniversary on June 26. (Photo by Pastor Matt Gladd)

Hot Summer Nights Concerts Return

SOUTH BERWICK—
Slaid Cleaves will return to Maine again this summer to open the annual Hot Summer Nights concert series in his hometown of South Berwick at 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 29, in the Marshwood High School Auditorium. Cleaves, who is poised to release his latest album, has appeared in South Berwick every year since 2001.
Slaid’s concert is the first in a lineup of free shows offered throughout the summer by SoBo Central, a community non-profit group. He will be performing on the eve of releasing his new CD, “Sorrow and Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge.” Five other concerts will be at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday nights, beginning July 14, on the lawn of Central School. Residents are invited to come downtown with picnics, blankets and babies and enjoy the open-air concerts with friends and neighbors. Food and beverages will also be sold. The shows go on rain or shine, but outdoor shows will move across the street to the Town Hall in the case of rain.
The Hot Summer Nights line-up includes local favorites like Joyce Anderson’s one-woman-band show and Chronic Jazz Syndrome’s horn band tunes as well as Mudhook, Dan Walker and New England Blue Grass. The concerts feature local teens as the opening acts. A hoot night on August 4 will include a variety of local talents. Anyone interested in performing can contact Chip Harding, who plans the opening acts, at (207) 384-5846.
The concert series will close with the first-ever LanternFest, featuring the classic and contemporary covers of PB&J, a community-wide festival of lights and a lantern stroll. The LanternFest, scheduled for Thursday, August 25 at Spring Hill, will involve artists, children, schools, families, fire-lovers and all other community members who want to join in lantern-making, a parade around Knights Pond, music, food, a bonfire, and the launching of boat lanterns. Grounds will open at 5:30 p.m. and the concert will begin at 6.
The summer concert series, organized and staffed by a small group of volunteers, raises funds to pay the professional musicians and other expenses associated with the concerts. Hot Summer Nights is a program of the local non-profit group, SoBo Central, which was incorporated in Maine in July 2009.
SoBo Central is an umbrella for six local organizations dedicated to the community of South Berwick: Green Up, Smart Growth South Berwick, the Food Pantry, Keep South Berwick Warm, and Powderhouse Hill, as well as Hot Summer Nights.
Although the concerts are all free, Hot Summer Nights welcomes donations, which are now tax-deductible.
More information on shows, musicians and rain announcements is available on the web at www.hotsummernightssobo.com. This includes the schedule, the history, and even a taste of the music. For more information email hsn@sobocentral.org.
Photo caption: Slaid Cleaves will return to his hometown of South Berwick to kick off the annual Hot Summer Nights concert series on June 29. (Courtesy photo)

Local Students Design and Build Historic Memorial Bridge

By Larry Favinger
Staff Columnist
KITTERY—
Twenty-one model bridges have been built at Shapleigh School, each of them a possible replacement for the historic Memorial Bridge that spans the Piscataqua River joining Portsmouth and Kittery.
The designing and building of these structures was a seventh grade program to teach ratio and proportion, said math teacher Robyn Angus earlier this week in her classroom at the school, and was selected because the Memorial Bridge “affects our community greatly.”
Nancy Sebert, a language arts teacher who was also involved with the project, said it was a way to get students “involved in community issues and complex problem solving” with the trial run of a bridge building project.
The 67 students participating in the project were divided into 21 teams to design the bridges. The actual structures are made of Popsicle sticks, glue, string and toothpicks and measure about seven feet in length.
Building bridges at the school is not new, but the scope of this year’s project was considerably larger. In previous years the bridges, made of toothpicks, have been designed for the Kittery Point area. This year the Memorial Bridge span was selected.
“We wanted students to learn more about the importance of this bridge to our community, so we used as much real work application as possible to have students design, build, and persuade an audience that their company (team) should be hired to replace the Memorial Bridge,” Ms. Sebert said in a prepared release.
She said the bridge was selected because of its historical, structural, and commercial worth to the Seacoast area.
It is to be replaced in the next few years.
Part of the project was to learn from various people about the bridge and its importance. Those speaking to the class included Keith Coda, the project manager of the Memorial Bridge Reconstruction project from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation; Jon Carter, Kittery town manager, and Thurston Powell, a retired tugboat operator.
The 21 groups were divided into two boys’ rooms and two girls’ rooms. Each group selected its own project manager, architect, and accountant with specific roles to accomplish. “We were trying to make it as realistic as possible,” Sebert said.
Each had a budget of $90 million, the estimate for the actual replacing of the Memorial Bridge as reported in local media.
Sebert said each group also had to write a proposal including project scope and project phases including costs. Each project will be judged and the winners of each room will receive a plaque.
The winners will then go before the school’s student body and the one voted best will receive another plaque.
“We are learning a lot about bridge design, working as a team, budgeting measurement, accuracy, and problem solving when there are no easy answers,” Sebert wrote. “Both students and teachers will play a crucial role in revising this project each year to improve on it and make it even more expeditionary.”
Sebert said this year’s project did not include a requirement for a lift in the bridge to allow for the large ships entering Portsmouth Harbor, but that will be included in next year’s project.
(Nancy Sebert contributed to this report.)
Photo caption: Two of 21 bridges designed and built by students at Shapleigh School (photo by Larry Favinger)

Get Ready for the 36th Annual Strawberry Festival

SOUTH BERWICK—
Always the last Saturday in June, this year the festival will be on Saturday, June 25th. The South Berwick Strawberry Festival officially kicks off summer for the quaint, southern Maine town of South Berwick. All over town one can see the bright red, white, and green strawberry flags that not only line the main streets, but can also be seen flying from many houses. The day is filled with food, entertainment, games, and crafts.
For thirty-six consecutive years, hundreds of volunteers from South Berwick have come together for this South Berwick tradition. As always, official Festival activities will take place only on the grounds of Central School on Main Street in the center of town. A stop at the Strawberry Festival Information Booth is a must to find out more about the day’s schedule for entertainers as well as where all the various activities are located.
Preparation of the strawberries start on Friday, the morning before the Festival, at the Community Center where over a hundred and fifty volunteers get together for a good old fashioned social to hull, slice, and sugar the berries. Other volunteers slice the biscuits, prepare the whipped cream and move everything under the Strawberry Shortcake tent so all will be ready for the Festival goers when it opens at 9 a.m. and runs to 4 p.m.
Old Fashion Trolleys
Transportation to and from the Festival is free via an old fashion trolley ride. Running every 20 minutes, the trolleys will provide transportation to the Festival from parking locations at Marshwood Great Works School on Rt 236, the Community Center on Norton Street, Powder House Hill, and Agamenticus Field.
Strawberry Tent and Food
Strawberry shortcakes have always been a favorite of the Festival. They will begin serving at 9 a.m. until it is all gone. Last year over 250 cases of fresh strawberries, 80 gallons of whipped cream and over 330 dozen biscuits were used.
In addition to shortcakes and cheesecakes there is also a huge Food Court. There will be a pancake breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m. Throughout the day there will be other various food items sold by local non-profit groups. The Fire Dept will be selling hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and cold drinks. The Community Pantry will be serving up frozen lemonade, Knights of Columbus will serve fried dough, the Masons will serve chicken BBQ and other assorted non-profit groups will be serving sandwich wraps, teriyaki, nachos, fruit cups, cotton candy and water.
Road Race
The day’s activities begin at 8 a.m., with a 5 mile Road Race and 2.5 mile Fun Walk, sponsored by the South Berwick Recreation Department and local businesses, kick off is from Marshwood Middle School on Academy St.
Entertainment
Throughout the day, a variety of entertainers from around the area will be performing on two stages set up around the grounds.
Crafts
Over 100 juried artisans will be on hand to display and sell their hand-made wares, including clothing, pottery, jewelry, paintings, photographs, candles, furniture, and more. These crafters will be located both at the side of Central School and in the area around the food court.
Visit www.southberwickstrawberryfestival.com for a complete schedule of events.
Photo caption: Patrons create a long line for the strawberry shortcake, but it’s well worth the wait. (Courtesy photo)

When Pigs Fly Expands to a Wood-Fired Pizzeria

By Larry Favinger
Staff Columnist

KITTERY —
A new pizzeria and company store will open on Route 1 Thursday (June 23rd), the design of which, along with many of its offerings, is unique.
When Pigs Fly Artisan Bread and Wood-Fired Pizzeria will offer not only pizza made with the sourdough the bakery by the same name is noted for, but also appetizer plates, salads, draft beers and draft wines.
The 160-seat pizzeria includes seating within the building, and on a screened-in farmer’s porch and a back deck. There is parking for 80 cars on site as well.
In addition to the restaurant, the bakery store, now located in a company store just south of the new building, will be included in the new quarters, selling the items already on sale at the present store. At the current company store one olive oil is sold and that will be increased to three at the new facility.
The wine and beer bar will offer 20 beers including many craft brews and several from Maine. There will also be eight draft wines, four reds and four whites.
The pizza will be Neapolitan style from wood-burning ovens, made with all natural ingredients including fresh mozzarella daily. A garden is planned on site to grow the needed herbs, Ron Siegel said.
“We’re also going to have a lot of really nice appetizers,” he said, and three or four salads. Other items on the menu will include red Portuguese style chowder, grilled octopus, meatballs, steamed mussels and more. They will also have their own line of gelato.
The new businesses will employ about 40 people to start, he said.
The building was designed by Ty Par of Portland and, Ron Siegel noted, includes reclaimed wood and metal throughout, resulting in some very unique designs in the bar, lighting and other aspects.
“I always wanted to do pizza,” Ron Siegel said. “I liked the idea. I had a restaurant a long time ago that served pizza. It something nice to do and it complements the bread.”
The project began with the idea of putting a small wood-burning oven at the company store. That advanced to tearing down the company store and building new, and from there to building the new facility on a larger piece of land with landscaping.
Ron Siegel said something will be done with the current company store building.
When Pigs Fly was founded in 1993 by Ron Siegel in a small building in Wells where he baked 80 loaves of bread a day. He was joined by his brother, Andrew, who came east from California in 1994, and the two worked long and hard to meet the demand for their product. They hired their first employee in 1994. Today there are 60 employees working at the bakery.
The business soon outgrew that initial facility and they relocated their business to York. About 18 months later the brothers relocated again, this time in a larger tract of land just off Route 1 in York where the bakery remains to this day.
The new facility on Route 1 in Kittery will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
Photo caption: L-R: Andrew & Ron Siegel, owners of when Pigs Fly Artisan Bread & Wood-Fired Pizzeria (L. Favinger photo)