Open House
- Visitors gather for a tour at Rundlet-May House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during the 2011 Open House.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Each year, Historic New England opens many of its properties to the public free of charge on a Saturday in June. From Wiscasset, Maine, to Jamestown, Rhode Island, to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, learn about the people who lived in stone-enders, urban mansions, rural estates, and working farms during free guided tours at Historic New England’s house museums. Highlights this year include the first-ever opening of the attached farmhouse at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm and tours of the mansion at the Lyman Estate.
Taking photos? Upload them to Instagram with the tag #HistoricNE. Visitors are welcome to take photos of the exteriors of our properties. Interior photographs for personal use require advance permission.
These house museums offer free tours on June 2. All tours are first-come, first-served. Unless otherwise noted, tours are offered on the hour, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last tour at 4:00 p.m.).
Connecticut
- Roseland Cottage, Woodstock, 1846
Maine
- Castle Tucker, Wiscasset, 1807
- Hamilton House*, South Berwick, c. 1785
- Sarah Orne Jewett House*, South Berwick, 1774
- Marrett House, Standish, 1789
- Nickels-Sortwell House, Wiscasset, 1807
- Sayward-Wheeler House*, York Harbor, c. 1718
Massachusetts
- Beauport, Sleeper-McCann House, Gloucester, 1907
- Boardman House, Saugus, 1692
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Browne House, Watertown, c. 1698
- Coffin House, Newbury, 1678
- Cogswell’s Grant, Essex, 1728
- Cooper-Frost-Austin House, Cambridge, 1681
Tours at noon, 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. - Dole-Little House, Newbury, c. 1715
Open 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Gedney House, Salem, 1665
- Gropius House, Lincoln, 1938
- Lyman Estate, Waltham, 1804
Tours on the hour, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (last tour at noon) - Merwin House, Stockbridge, c. 1825
- Otis House Museum, Boston, 1796
Tours on the half hour, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last tour at 4:30 p.m.) - Phillips House, Salem, 1821
- Quincy House, Quincy, 1770
Tours on the hour, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. (last tour at 4:00 p.m.) - Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, Newbury, c. 1690
- Swett-Ilsley House, Newbury, c. 1670
Open 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
New Hampshire
- Barrett House*, New Ipswich, c. 1800
- Gilman Garrison House*, Exeter, 1709
- Jackson House*, Portsmouth, 1664
- Governor John Langdon House*, Portsmouth, 1784
- Rundlet-May House*, Portsmouth, 1807
Rhode Island
- Arnold House, Lincoln, 1693
- Casey Farm, Saunderstown, c. 1750
Tours on the hour, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (last tour at 1:00 p.m.) - Clemence-Irons House, Johnston, 1691
- Watson Farm, Jamestown, 1796
Open 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*Properties in southern Maine and New Hampshire also offer free tours on Sunday, June 3. Hours are the same.
