Sarah Orne Jewett House

Photographs of Sarah and Annie

Sarah and Annie’s photographs are displayed on the west wall of Mary’s room, as they were in the 1931 photograph of the space.

Mary Rice Jewett and Annie Fields were friends; they occasionally corresponded and often send each other regards through Sarah. Gifts were sent, particularly flowers from the Jewett garden.

As Sarah’s health failed at the end of her life, Annie wrote, “It is good to have Mary’s words when you are not quite up to a vast correspondence. Will you tell her so with my love and thanks.” Annie Fields, (Letter to Sarah Orne Jewett, undated) MS Am 1743.1 (33), Houghton Library, Harvard University

If there was any tension between Annie Fields and Mary Rice Jewett, it was minor, and not over Sarah’s relationship, but over her presence. Annie rarely came to South Berwick; it is likely that the Maine town did not suit her. Annie invited Mary to Boston, but often declined invitations to South Berwick. Likewise, Mary enjoyed having Sarah with the family at home, though she did spend time with her sister and partner in Boston and at their summer home in Manchester. In the end, Sarah Orne Jewett traveled between the two houses, spending time at each.