Berwick treasures: Brown House tells the town's story

BERWICK — Suppose, just to be supposing, that there was a flood, a hurricane or a fire (knock on a 130-year-old hardwood floor).
You have time to save only one of the treasures in the Brown House, Berwick’s heritage museum. What would you save?
—Would it be the wedding band that once belonged to Thresia Thorguson Brown, who married George Brown? Her father, Norwegian immigrant and shipbuilder Gunder Thorguson, built the house for her in 1893.
—Maybe it’s the bat once used by Berwick’s own Sid Gautreaux, a switch-hitting catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1936 and 1937.
—Or would you save the Army uniform worn by Elby Fangue, who came ashore at Normandy on D-Day plus one in 1944? Or the Navy uniform of Kenneth Thomas, who was on a ship carrying supplies to the troops invading Okinawa in 1945?
—There’s a 13-foot pirogue that once skimmed over the local waterways before it was restored by a Washington state man and returned to the Brown House. But it’ll be a tough save. The pirogue is so big it had to be pushed through a window.
—How about the ball gown worn by Shirley Savoie when Mardi Gras returned to Berwick in 1981?
—A pair of bronzed children’s shoes might catch your eye. They were once worn by a little girl named Sophie, who came to Berwick from a New York City orphanage by way of the Orphan Train. When she saw the stranger who would adopt her, she greeted him as “Papa!”
Brown House archivist Shannon McFate has a different take. She’d grab some of the texts — official documents, newspaper articles, an old town government newsletter, whatever — she’s been scanning to preserve Berwick’s history.
McFate and Patsy Thomas took a reporter on a tour of the Brown House on Third Street near Town Hall on Wednesday, and along the way told the story of Berwick.
Although exhibits explore the Native American role in the area’s history, the town’s story starts with Thomas Berwick, two generations off the boat from Scotland. He was sent by the Spanish authorities who ruled the area in the late 1700s to survey the lower Teche region.
Modestly, he named the large body of water he found here Berwick Bay.
Berwick returned to the area with his family, and a son born here, Joseph, would be the key to the development of the town of Berwick.
The nearby area had at least seven plantations, growing indigo first, then cotton and finally sugar.
By the time Thorguson arrived, Berwick was a bustling little town. He had his own shipyard and, when his daughter married, he built the two-story house for Thresia on Second Street with a view of the river.
There it stayed until the Long-Allen Bridge was built in 1933, when the house was moved to its current location on Third Street.
The Browns’ son, Dewey, donated the house to the town in 1987 as a museum. But those plans languished until 2018, when it opened to tell the town’s story.
You can see photos of historic homes and historic churches, and visit the Hall of Valor, where veterans going back to the War of 1812 are memorialized.
The museum is free to visit and is open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. You can also call for an appointment at 985-384-8858.
You can also view some of the scanned documents at:
https://www.townofberwick.org/community/blog.php
Available documents include infomation on Mardi Gras, the Long-Allen Bridge, the Orphan Train and the Berwick Beacon newsletter.
The Brown House also has a Facebook group called BewickLAHeritageMuseum.