Strawberry Festival 2024 – Featuring Tess Chakkalakal

Strawberry Festival June, 2024

We had a wonderful Strawberry Festival at the newly renovated Hawthorne House in late June, 2024.  The rain did not keep us away!  We had over 70 people – wow!  Our guest speaker was amazing. 

Tess Chakkalakal talked about Nathaniel Hawthorne and friendship.  Did you know that President Franklin Pierce was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best friend?  What a story.   

Tess is an associate professor of Africana Studies and English at Bowdoin College.  Thank you Tess.   

She is  the creator and co-host of a new podcast series called “Dead Writers: Great American Authors and Where They Lived,” scheduled to air on Maine Public Radio this summer.  This podcast will include an episode on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s boyhood home in Raymond, Maine.   We will link to the podcast as soon as it is available. 

Please peruse the event photos below.  While they capture Tess and her attentive audience, none show the delicious strawberry shortcake and thank you to Migis Lodge for the always scrumptuous chocolate covered strawberries.

A good time was had by all!  Please enjoy the photos below: