Counting House Museum
The Old Berwick Historical Society
Membership, Business Membership & Volunteers
Old Berwick Historical Society
Counting House Museum
PO Box 296
South Berwick, ME 03908
(207) 384-0000Inquiries:
Done by VolunteersLast Updated:
6/12/2007
In Search of the Tory Lover - Historical Explorations in Berwick and South Berwick
Nancy, Martha, Rick, Terry and Linda
Rock said to be where Black Sara, a Berwick slave, saw the sons of John Sullivan off to fight in American revolution
We were on Route 236 in Berwick, looking south in the direction of South Berwick. Out of view in the dip in the road is Worster Creek, said to be the site of a fight between Indians and settlers in 1690. Sarah Orne Jewett mentions the creek in "The Tory Lover."
We explored a house in the village of Berwick thought to be associated with Capt. Samuel Lord, who moved here from South Berwick in the early 1700s. A large flat stone in the yard had some interesting letters carved in it.
The Lord house had a nice old barn we admired.
We went to the Berwick cemetery on Rte. 236 just south of the village, to find the graves of two slaves from the 1700s, Sarah and Caesar. Sarah is believed to have been born in South Berwick, near Great Works, about 1720, and served the Lord family who moved to present-day Berwick. She is said to have helped raise the children of Master John Sullivan.
Berwick cemetery stone
The Berwick cemetery has several beautiful stones from the early 1800s.
On Sullivan Street in Berwick we saw the plaque commemorating the site where Master John Sullivan (1692-1796) lived and taught school. Jewett made him a character in "the Tory Lover." Several of Sullivan's children became important in New England history.
We saw a house in Berwick thought to have belonged to Master John Sullivan and later moved.
In the evening, we investigated an old stone bridge under Main Street (formerly Salmon Falls Street), South Berwick. It is being repaired as part of the current improvements to the street.