Ever wonder what it felt like to wear a bustle or a hoop? Find out at this interactive historic fashion workshop as Site Manager and historic costume collector Peggy Konitzky takes you on the wild ride of women's fashion from 1805 through 1925. The workshop will be held Thursday, Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Nickels-Sortwell House barn in Wiscasset. See fashions through the decades in an illustrated talk, and take an up-close and personal look at examples of the kind of clothes the women of Castle Tucker and Nickels-Sortwell House wore. Try on a bustle for yourself! Admission is $15 Historic New England members, $25 nonmembers. Advance registration is required. Buy online at http://shop.historicnewengland.org/NIC-FASHION-9960 or call 207-882-7169.

Peggy Konitzky is Historic New England Site Manager for Castle Tucker and Nickels-Sortwell House in Wiscasset, both built in 1807, Marrett House in Standish, built in 1789 and the Bowman Estate in Dresden. Nickels-Sortwell House is located at 121 Main Street in Wiscasset. The barn entrance is around the corner on Federal Street.

Built in 1807 at the height of Wiscasset’s fortunes s a thriving seaport , Nickels-Sortwell House was the trophy house of shipping magnate Captain William Nickels. After Nickels’ death in 1815, the house was run as a hotel. It was purchased in 1899 by successful industrialist and former mayor of Cambridge, MA, Alvin Sortwell, as a summer home for his large and active family. Mayor Sortwell’s wife Gertrude and daughter Frances lovingly restored the house over the years, decorating and furnishing it in the Colonial Revival style. The Sortwell family enjoyed the mansion as a private home and family gathering place until 1956, when it was given to Historic New England.

Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation, telling the stories of over 400 years of life in New England through its historic houses, collections, publications and programs. FMI, visit HistoricNewEngland.org.