Historic preservation projects to mark Maine's bicentennial

Photo / Kate Matison The Harpswell Meeting House, one of the locations that will be featured in the Maine Historic Preservation Commission's Creating Statehood program.

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By Maureen Milliken

As Maine's bicentennial celebration officially gets underway, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission is undertaking two projects — one reliant on citizen input — to mark places in Maine significant to the state's bicentennial.

Gov. Janet Mills officials kicked off the year-long celebration Monday in Presque Isle, Bangor, Portland and Augusta. The two historic preservation programs, Creating Maine Statehood and Present at Statehood, are underway and expected to be completed early next year.

The Creating Maine Statehood project includes an online survey seeking information about buildings and spaces where actions crucial to Maine's separation from Massachusetts took place in the years 1816 to 1820. The survey closes Sept. 1, and an interactive map will be unveiled early next year showing the results, said Christi Chapman-Mitchell, assistant director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

The Present at Statehood program will document the 266 Maine properties that are on the National Register of Historic Places and existed when Maine became a state in 1820.

Chapman-Mitchell said the goal of both programs is to help residents connect to Maine's history. The conversations about separating from Massachusetts happened "at kitchen tables, taverns, public squares" all over Maine, she said. Many are places that still exist today. "We're hoping to get people to visualize a little bit of the landscape of 1820," and connect to it.

Maine residents voted on July 26, 1820, to separate from Massachusetts, an event that will be marked for the next year with a variety of state and local celebrations and programs.

Mills in her appearances Monday said, "Maine has a proud and storied history, and our bicentennial offers us the opportunity not only to honor it, but to recommit ourselves to the values that shaped us as a state and as a people."

Photo / Maureen Milliken

The Colburn House in Pittston, built in 1765, is one of 266 properties in Maine that were in existance when it became a state in 1820. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission will document and photograph all of the properties, and feature them next year on its website.

'Who we are as Mainers'

The commission had issued a request for proposals for photography and documentation of the historic properties for the Present at Statehood project, and the contract is expected to be awarded today, Chapman-Mitchell said. The project will include a photo and one paragraph on each property, and they'll be displayed on the state's website, with one featured every three days.

The commission so far has received about 20 answers to its Creating Statehood survey, and has extended the deadline from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1 after a television report about it aired earlier this month. Chapman-Mitchell said the commission is happy with the response so far, but "we wanted to make sure anyone who heard about it had a chance to respond," she said.

The commission directly contacted historical societies in the state, but anyone with knowledge of a property that was instrumental in the vote for statehood, drafting the state's constitution or other activities involved in creating the state can fill out the survey.

While the commission has gotten a lot of submissions from Downeast and southern and central Maine, she said they're still hoping for some from Penobscot and Aroostook counties.

Chapman-Mitchell said both projects "to really give us a sense of the foundation of who we are as Mainers" and as touchstones that connect Mainers of today to those 200 years ago.

Courtesy / Office of Governor

Augusta Mayor Dave Rollins, left, and Gov. Janet Mills lift the state bicentennial flag at her appearance at Augusta's Mill Park Monday, one of four in the state to kick off Maine's 200th birthday.

Mills launches celebrations

Mills yesterday also announced launch of a program making $375,000 in grants available for bicentennial-themed events and projects that benefit the public, such as parades, historic preservation efforts, lectures and curriculum. The Maine Bicentennial Commission (Maine200) will consider grant applications from nonprofits, such as historical societies, libraries, government entities and schools. Individuals and for-profit businesses can also apply in partnership with a nonprofit.

Mills participated in a variety of bicentennial launch activities in her four stops Monday, including planting Eastern white pine "tricentennial" tree groves, raising the bicentennial flag at each stop and a variety of music, poetry and speeches.

At each stop she also raised the bicentennial flag with local officials, including, in Bangor, members of the Penobscot nation.

Mills touted the state's unique character and dedication of its residents.

"Our little state, jutting out of the northeast corner of our country, with a population of 1.3 million, with four fulsome seasons of the year, with its secret waterfalls, its forests, hills and tablelands, its fields, shores and mighty rivers — this unique place we call home offers so much to so many," she said.

Besides the completion of the historic preservation projects, planned bicentennial events, according to the Maine Bicentennial Commission, include the Statehood Day Celebration March 15, a Summer Celebration party in Portland next July and a cultural weekend that includes an innovation expo, time capsule sealing and more in October 2020.