Frances Perkins Homestead Located on the River Road, Newcastle. This is a Side View of the House. from the Gardens.
By Carol McCracken (Post # 2,349)
The Frances Perkins Homestead, Newcastle, will be open on three different occasions this summer for those interested in touring this historic homestead on the coast of Maine. The tours will occur on Sunday, July 12; Sunday, August 2; and September 13, 2015. The guided tours are hosted by the Frances Perkins Homestead.
The Frances Perkins Homestead, named a National Historic Landmark by Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell in 2014, is the ancestral home of Frances Perkins, US. Secretary of Labor under Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1033-45. Perkins was the first women to serve in a presidential cabinet and was the principal architect behind many of the New Deal policies undertaken to combat the great depression and improve the lives and working conditions for generations of Americans. Among her many accomplishments in a long and productive career, she is credited with establishing Social Security, standardizing the forty-hour work week, banning child labor and developing the nation’s unemployment insurance and worker compensation systems.
Tours provide a glimpse of the site’s history as a working farm, brickyard and home to many generations of the Perkins family since the mid-eighteenth century, including Frances Perkins, its most notable member.
Tours are $20 per person and begin at the OceansWide parking lot at 44 Main Street, Newcastle, ME. Two tour times are available each day. The 9:00 am tour lasts 3 hours and includes the Homestead and a walk to the Damariscotta River. The 1:30 PM tour last 1 l/2 hours and includes only the Perkins home. Sturdy walking shoes and a hat are recommended. You can register online at http://francesperkinscenter.brownpapertickets.com/, by emailing info@francesperkinscenter.org or by calling the Frances Perkins Center at 207-563-3374.
Bottled water and light refreshments will be provided.
Tours will be led by Frances Perkins Center board members and Perkins’ grandson, Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall.
Please consider enhancing your Homestead Tour by stopping by to see our free interpretive exhibit about Frances Perkins, at 170A Main Street, Damariscotta. Our summer hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1 0:00 am to 2:00 pm.