Earle Shettleworth Wiscasset Walking Tour | Events

 Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and Maine State Historian Historic New England will give a very special walking tour of historic Wiscasset on Friday afternoon, August 24th from 2:00 – 3:30 pm. The tour will begin at Castle Tucker at 2:00 p.m. and proceed down through the village to the Nickels-Sortwell House. Light refreshments will be served in the Nickels-Sortwell House solarium or garden at the end of the tour. Admission is $25 for Historic New England members and $30 for nonmembers. Pre-registration is required. Space is very limited, so call 207-882-7169 or visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org. This program will not be offered to the general public next year, so call now to reserve your place.

The admission price includes tours of Castle Tucker and the Nickels-Sortwell House. Visitors interested in touring both houses before the walking tour should arrive at the first house no later than noon. Anyone interested in taking one house tour prior to the walking tour should plan on arriving for that tour no later than 1:00 p.m. Guest passes will be issued to those who wish to tour the houses at a later date.

Built in 1807 and lived in by one family from 1858 until the turn of the 21st century, Castle Tucker visitors travel in time back to Victorian Wiscasset through the stories of Captain Richard H. Tucker, Jr., his wife Mollie and their five children in the setting of their home. This large, Regency style mansion is still fully-furnished with the original furniture, belongings and decoration brought here and used by the Tuckers over the years. Preserved by three generations of Tucker family women, Castle Tucker is one of the most intact Victorian interiors in the country. The house is located at 2 Lee Street in Wiscasset.

Nickels-Sortwell House was also built in 1807, but tells a very different story. This magnificent Federal mansion was built as a trophy home by a successful sea captain whose family’s time in the mansion was tragically brief. After years of use as a hotel, the house became the summer home of successful industrialist and former mayor of Cambridge, MA Alvin F. Sortwell and his family in 1899. Lovingly restored in the Colonial Revival style, the house was filled with antiques and enjoyed by multiple generations of family and friends in a bygone world of leisure and privilege. The Nickels-Sortwell House is located at 121 Main Street (the corner of Federal Street and Route 1) in Wiscasset.

Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. FMI, visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org.