NEWCASTLE — The Frances Perkins Center will host guided tours of the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark Saturdays, July 15, Aug. 5 and Sept. 9.
The homestead, named a National Historic Landmark by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in 2014, is the ancestral home of Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor under Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945.
Perkins was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet and was the principal architect of New Deal programs to combat the Great Depression that improved the lives and working conditions for generations of Americans, according to a news release from the Frances Perkins Center.
She was instrumental in the establishment of Social Security, the minimum wage, standardizing the 40-hour work week, banning child labor and developing the nation’s unemployment insurance and worker compensation systems.
Tours, led by Frances Perkins Center board members, an archeologist who has conducted surveys of the site, and Perkins’ grandson, Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, will provide a glimpse of the site’s history as a working farm, brickyard and home to many generations of the Perkins family since the mid-18th century, including Frances Perkins.
Tours are will cost $22 per person. Transportation to the homestead will be provided by the center and will depart from downtown Newcastle. Two tour times are available each day. The 9 a.m. tour will last three hours and includes the homestead and a walk to the Damariscotta River. The 1:30 p.m. tour will last two hours and will include only the Perkins home.
Sturdy walking shoes and a hat are recommended. Bottled water and light refreshments will be provided. To register online, visit francesperkinscenter.org, email info@francesperkinscenter.org, or call the center at 563-3374.
The homestead buildings are not handicapped accessible. Those who have mobility issues and wish to visit, call 563-3374 for more information about accommodation needs.
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