Photo / Courtesy Frances Perkins Homestead
The Frances Perkins Homestead in Newcastle has been designated as a national monument.
Updated: 1 hour ago
Maine’s newest national monument to host inaugural celebration
Photo / Courtesy Frances Perkins Center
A child views a portion of the self-guided exhibit at the Frances Perkins National Monument.
The Frances Perkins Center in Newcastle will host a kickoff to celebrate its inaugural summer season as a national monument.
The event is scheduled for June 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in partnership with the National Park Service.
“For the first time this summer, we’ll get to welcome visitors as a national monument, a well-deserved accolade that speaks to Perkins’ incredible accomplishments and enduring legacy,” said Amanda Hatch, the center’s acting executive director.
Workers’ rights
Perkins was an advocate for workers' rights, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet and a key architect of the New Deal. She died in 1965 at age 85.
The Frances Perkins Homestead was designated a national monument in December 2024.
The designation marked the culmination of a grassroots campaign led by the nonprofit Frances Perkins Center and the National Parks Conservation Association.
Perkins instrumental in the creation of the 40-hour workweek, minimum wage, workplace safety and fire prevention, the abolition of child labor and the creation of Social Security.
Saltwater farm
Perkins (1880-1965) was born in Boston and spent much of her childhood in Worcester, Mass., before working her way through state government in New York and eventually the federal government, where she served as secretary of labor from 1933-45 in the cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
She also spent considerable time at her family's saltwater farm on the banks of the Damariscotta River. It was acquired by her family in the mid-18th century and consists of an 1837 brick house and connected barns on 57 acres, with 2.8 miles of stone walls along pastures and woodland. The grounds include remnants of 18th and 19th century home sites, wharves, clay pits and kilns connected with the family’s 19th-century brick-making business.
Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, the grandson of Frances Perkins and her living descendant, sold the property to the Frances Perkins Center in 2020. The nonprofit continues to own most of the property, while the National Monument encompasses the homestead, barn and some adjacent land.
The monument is operated by the National Park Service in partnership with the Frances Perkins Center, the official philanthropic partner supporting projects and programs at the monument site.
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