On Saturday, July 15, Saturday, August 5, and Saturday, September 9, 2017 the Frances Perkins Center will host guided tours of the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark in Newcastle, Maine. The Frances Perkins 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.  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, its most notable member.

Tours are $22 per person. Transportation to the Homestead is provided by the Center and will depart from downtown Newcastle. Two tour times are available each day. The 9:00 AM tour lasts 3 hours and includes the Homestead and a walk to the Damariscotta River. The 1:30 PM tour lasts 2 hours and includes only the Perkins home.

Sturdy walking shoes and a hat are recommended.  Bottled water and light refreshments will be provided.  You can register online at www.francesperkinscenter.org under the Perkins Homestead tab, by emailing info@francesperkinscenter.org , or by calling the Frances Perkins Center at 207-563-3374.

The Homestead buildings are not handicap accessible. If you have mobility issues and wish to visit please call us at 207-563-3374 for more information and to see if we can accommodate your needs.