tours and public programs
Open September 7, 1-4pm and October 12, 11-4pm
and year-round by Appointment for Group Tours and Programs.
Call (207) 897-4366 or email programs@norlands.org for availability.
Norlands provides a perfect intimate setting for small groups and motorcoach tours.
Site Tour: Norlands through the Years
A walk through the Norlands historic buildings, including the 1867 Washburn mansion, with a discussion about the Washburn family and how the landscapes, the buildings and lives have changed through the years. Offered year-round; however, the buildings are not heated. Plan for 90 minutes.
Price is $10.00 per person | $6.00 ages 12 and under | $25.00 family rate (2 adults with children in the same household). Call to schedule a tour.
Meal, Laugh and Learn
Enjoy a delicious homemade country meal and participate in two interactive programs – “The Busy Cradle: Story of the Washburn Family” and “A Country School, 1853” - visiting both the 1883 library and the one-room school house. Relax in rocking chairs on the piazza, enjoy this delightful Maine country setting, and visit the gift shop. The meal served at the “nooning” includes all the makings of an authentic supper complete with home-made chicken pie and apple pie or other seasonal dessert. Plan for three hours.
Price is $28.00 per person: minimum group size is 20, maximum group size is 60.
Norlands Tea Party: A Taste of History
Enjoy the taste of a hot cup of tea and homemade cookies served up with an entertaining history talk of your choice. Then enjoy a guided tour of the 1867 Washburn mansion. Plan for 90 minutes.
Price is $13.00 per person: minimum group size is 8, maximum group size is 24
Choose one the following topics for your entertaining talk:
- Meet Mercy Lovejoy - Hear a lively presentation on how she came to be "on the town" what life is like there, and her thoughts about the neighbors.
- The Proper Sphere of Woman - the proper place of the 19th-century farm woman is revealed in this humorous presentation.
- Health, Sanitation and Deadly Diseases - a presentation that includes home remedies, customs and beliefs related to 19th-century health care.
- School Days, 1850's - a schoolma'am tells of a typical day in a one room country school and reviews the basic of the three "R"s and she seeks a job for the upcoming term of school.
- Reminiscences of the Old Woman – meet Martha “Patty” Benjamin Washburn as she reflects about her life, her ten children and their remarkable achievements.