Berwick museum showcases St. Mary’s first settlement

In less than a year since The Brown House, Berwick’s Heritage Museum, officially came into existence, one exhibit is complete and several others are in the works all showcasing St. Mary Parish’s oldest settlement.

During May 2018, the town council gave the Berwick Historical Society full use of The Brown House, located on Third Street, as a museum.

People may visit the museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays. Members of the historical society ask that anyone interested in donating items come to the museum during those hours or call town hall at 985-384-8858. Society members also meet the second Tuesday each month at 1:30 p.m. at town hall.

The house, built in 1893, was donated to the town of Berwick by Dewey Brown and his wife, Wilhelmina “Billie” Diboll Brown around 1970 with the intention for Berwick to use the building for part of the lighthouse museum project. However, that plan didn’t materialize, said Gen Thorguson, one of the historical society’s over 20 members.

The area now known as Berwick was originally inhabited by the Native American Atakapa-Ishak Nation and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana. The first white settlers, Thomas Berwick, a surveyor in the Opelousas district, his wife, Eleanor, and eight children, received a Spanish land grant in 1797, making Berwick the first settlement in St. Mary Parish, according to information provided by the Berwick Historical Society.

The community of Berwick, named for Thomas Berwick, was incorporated as a municipality in 1907.

Historical society members officially opened the Berwick Heritage Museum’s first exhibit in October 2018. That exhibit consists of a list of the over 200 oak trees in Berwick and canvas displays of 36 of those trees. The project took about 10 months to complete, and the oldest tree dates to 1790.

Other exhibits in the museum include displays of baskets, handmade wooden bowls, archives and eventually one on the Southwest Reef Lighthouse, Historical Society President Dale Fangue said. Officials are working on a display about children who came to the area on the Orphan Train after accepting a donation of items from the Morgan City Archives.

A sign designating the building as The Brown House Berwick Heritage Museum was recently donated by historical society member Randal Monceaux.

Gunder Thorguson, who operated a saw mill in Berwick, originally built the home for his daughter, Theresa Thorguson Brown.

Thorguson built the house on Second Street, but the structure was later moved to Third Street to allow for construction of the U.S. 90 bridge over Berwick Bay.

In conjunction with Berwick’s annual Lighthouse Festival, historical committee members have produced several programs highlighting different aspects of town history including the fire department, education and the fishing and trapping industries.

That committee decided to go beyond just presenting programs at the Lighthouse Festival and put its efforts toward a more permanent preservation of Berwick’s history in the form of a museum.

Berwick is in the process of applying for a cultural district that would be centered around the museum, lighthouse and riverfront, Fangue said. Officials also hope to get another lighthouse that will serve as a tourist attraction in Berwick and use the museum for school field trips, said Lud Henry, mayor pro tem and historical society chairman.

Society members are in the midst of selling commemorative bricks to raise money for the museum, too.

The long-term goal is for the museum to be open every day, but officials are in the infancy of just getting the museum started right now, Historical Society Treasurer Toni Fangue said.

Berwick’s Heritage Museum is among the nonprofit organizations that people can donate to during the Community Foundation of Acadiana’s South Louisiana Giving Day on May 9. For more, visit southlouisianagivingday.org.