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Volunteer Activities

James House Association offers a wide variety of activities for volunteers. The Association’s projects are expanding and the opportunities for volunteers are increasing. Some of the activities are educational, some are, to be honest, work, but most are just outright fun. The Association is proud to have activities which appeal to many interests, and demand a variety of talents. James House is a National Historic site and thus is interested in recruiting volunteers from communities in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Many of the activities can be worked on without having access to the James House Homestead.

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Some of the activities offered to volunteers are listed below.

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Gardeners and Landscapers: Those who would like to learn how to transform a dense woods and an open field into an historical landscape of apple and pear orchards, historical flower gardens and herb gardens by helping clear the woods, planting the orchards and gardens and maintaining the orchards and gardens after planting. The Association has three acres to landscape. We welcome groups as well as individuals to participate in this effort.

Instructors: Those who would like to give or help with educational instruction in:

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•    First Period Architecture   

•    Early Farm and Family Life

•    Historical Landscape Design

•    Early Gardening Techniques

•    18th and 19th Century Farming

•    Colonial Dairy Farming

•    Farm Product Distribution

•    Salt Marsh Haying

•    Archaeology 

 

Volunteers must provide a written description of the instruction content and be prepared to present the content to the James House Association, Inc. Board of Directors for approval.

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Docents/Interpreters: Those interested in welcoming guest to the Homestead and giving tours through the James House, its orchards and/or its gardens.

Researchers: Those interested in reviewing the history of the James Homestead, its inhabitants and the social and economic influences which affected life on the Homestead. There are three areas of research needed: research to enhance the information the Association has collected; research to find unknown facts concerning the Homestead its families, and the social and economic influences that affected their lives; research to develop historically correct programs based on the already collected history.

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Costume Makers – Those interested in sewing to create costumes for interpreters, lecturers and performers.

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Re-enactors: Those interested in re-enacting events which occurred during the James House history. Re-enactors have the opportunity to write their own script or join in the presentation of scripts prepared by others. All scripts must be approved by the James House Board of Directors.

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Musicians: Those interested in enhancing programs by providing period music. Colonial drum, fife, flute, violin, fiddle, and dulcimer musicians are preferred. Musicians must have their own instruments.

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Singers: Those interested in enhancing programs with song by singing period pieces or new pieces based on James House history. The opportunity to write pieces based on James House history is available.

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Archaeology: Those interested in helping our professional archaeologist with digs and those interested in helping maintain the James House artifact catalog.

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Administrators: Those interested in helping run our programs and those interested in helping with the operation of the James House: directors, grant writers, planners, supervisors, fundraisers, program facilitators, clerical help, and program assistants. This is a wide group of activities ranging from financial advice to working with children by helping run period children games and training day.

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For membership information, click on  cloud:                

 

To volunteer, contact Skip Webb:  603-926-3851 or skipwebbnh@yahoo.com

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