ELLSWORTH: The Black House at Woodlawn is open for its 90th season and welcomed its first visitor, Winnie Wang, from West Covina, CA. Winnie made the Black House a stop as part of her east coast journey to the Maritimes.
The Black House is a Federal style home built between 1824-1827 by John Black, a successful Ellsworth businessman who made his fortune in the timber and lumbering trades.
Tours of the Black House are given through a self-directed audio program which allows visitors to experience the collection at their own pace. Tours are $12 for adults and $5 for children and offer family entertainment for all ages. The public park is open year round, dawn to dusk, free of charge. There are two miles of walking trails and picnic tables. Dogs are welcome outdoors on leash. The Woodlawn Gift Shop is open to the public during museum hours and offers a wide variety of items including toys, teas, housewares, candles and collectibles.
The house was lived in by three generations of the Black family spanning 100 years. The last owner, George Nixon Black, Jr., John Black’s grandson, bequeathed his family home and the estate known as Woodlawn to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations upon his death in 1928. Nixon, as he was known by his family and friends, had prepared the home in his later years to be a tribute to his family and the grounds to be preserved as a public park. The Black House was first opened to the public as a museum in the summer of 1929.
The Black House is unique in that its contents are all original Black family furnishings and possessions that have been kept exactly as when Nixon Black occupied the home. He was a lover of the arts, a collector of antiques and a world traveler who added a number of interesting treasures to his beloved family home. It is nearly guaranteed that everyone, adults and children alike will find pieces of interest in this unique collection.
Woodlawn Museum, Gardens & Park, 19 Black House Drive, Ellsworth is open May and October, Tue-Sun 1-4; June-Sept, Tue-Sat 10-5 & Sun 1-4pm. For more information, click here.