Sarah Orne Jewett was so taken aback by some of the wallpaper in her uncle’s house that she described it, and the tiny spiders she imagined living in it, in her 1877 novel, “Deephaven.”
“The color was an unearthly pink and a forbidding maroon, with dim white spots, which gave it the appearance of having moulded,” she wrote.
The wallpaper was flocked, making it fuzzy where fibers were glued to it, and it also shimmers with mica. Even Brooke Steinhauser, who manages the historical site in South Berwick, described it as “outlandish.”
But, she said, when Jewett inherited the house, she chose to preserve some of its charm, wallpaper and all. And now, visitors can see one of only five known examples of 18th-century flocked wallpaper in New England, and one of the oldest examples in the nation.
Peggy Wishart, of Historic New England, is leading a crash course on wallpaper evolution and a wallpaper-focused tour of the Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum on Sunday, March 29, from 1 to 3 p.m.
A tour of the Sarah Orne Jewett House will highlight historical wallpapers.
The house maintains some of the original block-printed wallpaper as well as the reproduction machine prints that were hung as part of the museum’s restoration. While the house was built in 1774, the furnishings reflect the time that Jewett lived, wrote, and died there, 1887 to 1909. But some of the wallpaper predates that.
The renaissance-revival wallpaper in the dining room shows off the ability to stabilize a cobalt blue color, which happened around 1840. The sheen and detail mean it was probably expensive, but the shadowing also tells us it might have been accidentally hung upside-down.
In Jewett’s room, which has remained untouched, the wallpaper is less fussy. It is an earthy green with white flourishes that resemble her monogram, which she scratched into a windowpane. Despite her travels and famous literary friends, her room speaks of a dedication to work and a simple desire to find a quiet place to write.
Wishart recently catalogued and digitized all of Historic New England’s extensive wallpaper collection. There are more than 6,000 different samples, ranging from pristine examples with complete repeats to torn fragments.
To register for the presentation on March 29, call 207-384-2454 or go to historicnewengland.org. The cost is $10, or $5 for members. The museum is located at 5 Portland St., South Berwick, Maine.