MEMaine field entry
Nervous Nellie's Jams & Jellies
Deer Isle, ME
A Deer Isle jam kitchen and Maine-made gift shop surrounded by several acres of handmade sculpture environments, where preserves lead outside to a Western town, saloon, jail, juke joint, castle, wizard's tower and other pieces of Peter Beerits' ever-growing Nellieville.
Nervous Nellie's makes jams and chutneys by hand and sells them alongside Maine-made crafts and gifts, while the woods and meadow outside have evolved into an entire handmade village of sculptures, buildings and invented places.
Field notes
Why it belongs
Working jam and chutney producer, specialty-food shop, Maine craft and gift store, housewares seller, several-acre sculpture environment, hand-built imaginary village and folk-art destination.
The food business and shop are completely real, while the several-acre world surrounding them turns an island jam stop into something closer to walking through one artist's private mythology.
Nervous Nellie's Jams & Jellies operates from an old Deer Isle homestead where jams, preserves and chutneys are made by hand and sold alongside Maine-made foods, housewares, crafts, pottery and gifts. Then the property keeps going. Across several wooded and meadow acres, artist Peter Beerits has built Nellieville from discarded metal, lumber and salvaged material — a constantly evolving collection that includes a Western town, jail, saloon, fortune teller, juke joint, church, castle, wizard's tower and 1950s garage. The sculptural buildings are not separate stores; they are the handmade environment surrounding a very real specialty-food business.
Store contents
What you will find
Directory categories
Known for
- Handmade jams
- Chutneys
- Maine fruit
- Maine-made gifts
- Pottery and crafts
- Several-acre Nellieville grounds
- Peter Beerits sculptures
- Western town
- Saloon and jail
- Juke joint
- Grail castle
- Wizard's tower
- 1950s garage