Step back in time for a delightful afternoon or evening when you join us at beautiful Rock Ridge Farm just outside Meredith Village, NH. Wander the enchanted gardens, sip a cup of hot tea in the tea nook, browse our books, put on an LP from our great collection, view the work of local artists, and create your very own "signature scent" with the help of Tamsan, a master perfumer who has made perfumes for celebrities, writers, artists, musicians, professors, lawyers, doctors, chefs, trades people, crafts people, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, daughters, sons, kids, teens, even a queen.  There are just over 23,000 perfume recipes on file, created by Essense perfumers over 50+ years.

Rock Ridge Farm is beautiful in every season...

Essense's History

Essense originally began as a perfume oil workshop called Body Scents in Woodstock, New York during the  1970s. After moving to Martha's Vineyard in the early 1980s, it became Essence Natural Perfumes, making its home among the front porch shops of The Colonial Inn located in Edgartown, Massachusetts for two decades. In 2001 Essense of Martha's Vineyard quietly nestled itself  into a custom-built Caribbean style green tin-roofed "shack" among the scrub oaks next to the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest in Oak Bluffs. 

Essense was the very first original "indie" perfume-blending bar in New England, located on the island of Martha's Vineyard for 3 decades. After 50+ years, 3 owner/perfumers and 5 location changes, Essense remains the authentically essential perfume-oil apothecary-style artisanal perfumer's workshop ~ an indie parfumerie ~ to help Essense customers and everyday purveyors of scent create one-of-a-kind, unique, original signature-scents, Essense custom-blended "essenses."

A personal note from the current and third owner/perfumer of Essense:

From 1991-2011, I mixed perfumes on the island of Martha's Vineyard, creating thousands of "secret recipes" for my customers  Although I often created perfumes for exclusive clientele, as I evolved and matured, I realized that my favorite customers are "everyday" people. The experience of creating a signature scent for themselves or others, gives people a memorable and much needed break from the whirling chaos of noisy, busy lives. I love the harmony created by mixing the perfect perfume for each person. Essense customers, who wish a brief creative "time out," can make themselves a small vial of joy.  As one of my favorite writers, Diane Ackerman, asserts in her book, A Natural History of the Senses, "when we give perfume to someone, we give them liquid memory." 

In 2013 Essense relocated to historic Rock Ridge Farm, circa 1796, on the outskirts of Meredith Village. It took a year to remodel the historic barn that houses the "new" Essense. Near the shores  of Lake Waukewan, The Snake River, Lake Winona, Squam Lake, and Lake Winnipesaukee, Essense Parfumerie at Rock Ridge Farm is inside the 225 year-old post and beam barn that used to be home to: cows, ballet dancer's summer camp, the county dance hall, race horses, and 30 years of antiques. The barn, with the 1940's maple dance floors still intact, has been newly renovated with reclaimed barn wood and beams, and antique wagon-wheel chandeliers, in order to create an atmospheric backdrop for Essense Parfumerie's perfume "bar," in a historic setting, now resembling an old-world apothecary of previous centuries.

If you'd like to visit Essense soon, please email: Tamsan@Essense.com, for driving directions. Sometimes my customer's GPS systems will mistakenly guide them to the opposite side of the lake. With so many lakes, rivers, and mountains, making the Lakes Region so beautiful, it's easy enough to get lost; but it's usually worth the drive, if only for the area's remarkable topography. Looking forward to meeting  some of you, and possibly mixing-up some fabulous fragrances...

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Good memories, Brenda from Pennsylvania

I was fortunate to have lived on the island of Martha's Vineyard for approximately 20 years with my husband.  During those years I enjoyed exploring the rich culture and artsy shops in each town.  I remember the first time I ventured into "Essense” in Edgartown, and fell in love with the warmth of fragrance that enveloped you as you walked into the door, I didn't want to leave.

I couldn't leave without purchasing 1, 2 or 3 scented oils.  Whenever family or friends visited, this was the shop I took them to so they could experience what I did…bliss!  When Essense of Martha’s Vineyard closed I was saddened.  To my surprise one day, I found them online and purchased several items. I was filled with joy again. Now several years later I’ve purchased more items, again from Essense, and hopefully I'll visit the new location.

OPEN BY APPOINTMENT
Spring, Summer, and Autumn of 2023

Appointments available with 24 hour notice, or same day only by luck or chance. Appointments can be made Wednesday ~ Saturday. Hours for appointments are 12 pm until 6 pm. Groups of 1-4 people. No more than 4 people, due to enclosed space and Covid-19 precautions. Appointments for 1-4 people can be scheduled by emailing requests to Tamsan@Essense.com. You may also text, or call the phone number 603-409-2799. Estimate 1/2 hour per person, when planning for a group visit to Essense.

Beginning Memorial Weekend 2023, open "walk-in" hours will be Saturdays from 12-noon to 6 pm. Appointments can be scheduled Wednesday ~ Friday, from 12-noon until 6 pm.

No masks required. How can you smell perfumes while wearing a mask?