6 Ways to Preserve the Memory of Buildings Destroyed by Rising Sea Levels

By Leslie Moore, 2019 Intern

Each summer, Greater Portland Landmarks hires interns currently enrolled in historic preservation programs at colleges across the country to assist in our advocacy and education work. Our interns bring their knowledge of the preservation world in academia and in other parts of the country. In return, they get to live in a vibrant seaside city and gain valuable experience working in a historic preservation non-profit.

Leslie grew up in a Queen Anne house on the outskirts of Baltimore and is pursuing a Master of Arts in Public History and Historic Preservation at Colorado State University.

It is now common knowledge among Portlanders that Commercial Street in the Old Port floods during storms. This type of recurrent flooding is only expected to get worse in the coming decades as our climate continues to warm and sea levels rise. If global gas emissions continue to increase as predicted, Maine could face as much as a nine-foot sea level rise by 2100.

That level of sea rise, combined with high tides and a storm surge, will inundate historic buildings that sit near the coast and nearby rivers and streams. For this reason, Greater Portland Landmarks placed Historic Coastal Communities on their 2019 Places in Peril list.

Due to limited time and funds, waterfront communities in Maine need to think critically and realistically about which historic buildings they want to save, if they choose to save any at all. Professor Michelle L. Berenfeld suggests that communities use medical triage theory to classify which buildings to save and which are “goners”:

1. The building has such historical significance that is should be saved, even if that entails relocation

2. The building can be preserved for a few more decades with reasonable maintenance

3. The building won’t survive for another generation

Accepting the ruination of historic buildings goes against the instincts of historic preservationists and will undoubtedly be heartbreaking to watch. Rising sea levels will change our communities and lifestyles whether we are ready for it or not. We need to accept that future generations of Mainers may never fly a kite at Bug Light Park or explore the wharves of the Old Port. While we can mourn the loss of these experiences, the memories of these places don’t need to be forgotten.

I urge communities and preservation groups to consider creative projects as a means of sustaining public memory of our historic places that will wash away. The following projects won’t physically save any buildings, but they will keep them from being lost forever:

1. HABS Documentation

The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) has an intensive documentation process that includes high-quality photographs, detailed architectural drawings, and a thorough historical report. After a building is documented, the survey is archived at the Library of Congress. HABS surveys guarantee that information about a documented building will be available for future generations to access, but it does not result in a product that the public will interact with on a regular basis.

Example: HABS documentation of Kenworthy Hall in Marion, AL

2. Collaborate with Artists

Communities can hire artists, photographers, videographers, etc. to document threatened historic buildings in whichever creative manner that they see fit. The resulting artwork can be displayed in exhibits, turned into murals, published in books, or aired on public television, so that it is easily available for locals to enjoy.

Example: Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation commissioned artist Laurie Lundquist to design murals along Route 28 after the transportation project resulted in the demolition of a Croatian community’s historic church.

3. Interactive Websites

Communities can also develop an interactive website dedicated to a building or buildings destroyed by rising sea levels. The website can contain photos, maps, and video clips about the structure. Websites are free to access and easy to update.

Example: This website captures one family’s memories of their favorite vacation spot in Vermont.

4. Virtual Reality Video Game

Technology advancements provide us with new tools to document historic buildings. Video designers can virtually recreate entire cities and landscapes; this is a tool archaeologists are increasingly taking advantage of. Designers can create a “game” that allows people to virtually walk through and around a destroyed historic structure and see it as it once was.

5. Oral History Project

Example: Since 1973, the National Park Service has interviewed 1,900 people with connections to Ellis Island; their archive is available online and used in school curricula.

While photographs capture what a building once looked like, people’s stories reveal more about how people interacted with and used a building. A historian or volunteers can interview locals about their memories associated with buildings lost to rising sea levels. The interviews can be transcribed and digitized so anyone can access them online. Interviews can also be conducted to capture locals’ feelings about the building’s destruction.

5. Museum Exhibit

Another option for preserving the memory of lost buildings is a museum exhibit. Coastal communities can develop an exhibit dedicated to destroyed and damaged historic resources. The public can visit the exhibit to learn about the history of the buildings and understand why climate change destroyed them. The exhibit can include many of the projects mentioned above--photographs, artwork, and oral histories.

Example: The Brooklyn Historical Society opened an exhibit about their historic waterfront that addresses the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and rising sea levels.

Historic preservationists save old buildings in part to maintain a community’s identity and history. Rising sea levels may overwhelm some of our historic infrastructure, but they cannot wash away our memories. We need to get more creative and start saving memories, as much as historic buildings.

Inside Historic Fire Stations

By Sarah Knauer, 2019 Intern

Each summer, Greater Portland Landmarks hires interns currently enrolled in historic preservation programs at colleges across the country to assist in our advocacy and education work. Our interns bring their knowledge of the preservation world in academia and in other parts of the country. In return, they get to live in a vibrant seaside city and gain valuable experience working in a historic preservation non-profit.

Sarah was raised in Pennsylvania and is attending the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Portland, Maine Fire Department has over 250 years of experience and public service. What most people might not realize is there is more to their history than just fighting fires. 

In the early days of Portland's Fire Department, hoses and ladders were carried on trucks pulled to the scenes of fires, first by men and then by horses. In order to effectively fight fires, the hose companies would keep horses in or near the building that held the equipment. Stations like the one at 157 Spring Street (now the Portland Fire Museum) housed small stables where horses were kept comfortable between fires. These horses were especially needed when steam engines came into use for firefighting, as the heavy equipment was too much for firefighters to pull themselves.

Photo: News Center Maine, 2018

Not every volunteer station could afford their own horses, as they were valuable work animals. In the instance of the Spring Street station, the horses originally belonged to a public works program and were just used by the fire department. According to fire historians at the Portland Fire Museum, these horses were even treated better than the volunteer and full-time firefighters. During a winter fire call, the horses were hitched, they pulled the wagon to the fire, and then they were immediately brought back to the fire station. They would stay in their stalls, where they were groomed and fed, while the men were fighting bitter conditions of ice and flame. Only once the fire was under control were the horses taken back to haul the equipment back to the station. Eventually, when fire engines became powered, the horses were slowly phased out of service as fully automated equipment was purchased.

Fire houses also served a multitude of public functions. The Spring Street station building was originally a schoolhouse in 1857. It continued to serve as a schoolhouse for several years and boasted one of the best learning environments in the city, including new individual desks instead of the typical long tables for multiple children to sit at. Another key function of the fire station was serving as the ward’s voting station. The open space of the fire stations bay easily accommodated this function.

The Portland Fire Museum at 157 Spring Street holds an annual Open House the 2nd Saturday of October. On this day they bring the station back to its previous life by hosting a horse in the stables, which remain largely unaltered inside the building.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Safford House!

The Safford House at 93 High Street became the headquarters of Greater Portland Landmarks on November 9, 2009. Built in 1858, the Safford House is one of the last high style homes built on High Street in Portland. The building is attributed to Charles Alexander, one of Portland’s prominent 19th century architects, who helped popularized the Italianate style in the city.

The Libby Mansion (demolished 1928) on Congress Street ca. 1925, courtesy the Maine Historical Society

Other examples of Alexander’s work can be seen at 308 Danforth Street and in the Libby Mansion, which used to sit at the corner of Congress and High Streets. These examples and the Safford House are all masonry houses with hipped roofs, cupolas, and symmetrical facades with a central entrance capped by a shallow porch. (Like these other examples, the Safford House used to have a balustrade over the front entrance made of wood. In poor condition, it was removed in the 1990s and accidentally thrown out.)

93 High Street was built for William Safford, a shipping merchant who traded with Cuba and was noted as the first merchant in Portland to store provisions on ice at his warehouse. He later sold the warehouse and established the prosperous firm of Matthews & Safford of Cardenas, Cuba.

On November 6, 1858, The Portland Transcript mentioned Safford’s new home:
“…Although not so many dwelling-houses have been built here during the past season, as in some former years, yet much as been done for the architectural adornment of our city. Among private residences we may mention the elegant and substantial brick dwelling house erected by Wm. F. Safford, Esq. on High Street… The excellence of our schools, the beautiful situation of Portland, and its rapidly growing commercial importance, have induced quite a number of wealthy men to select it for a place of residence, and the tasteful expenditure of their wealth has done much to improve our city architecture.”

William Safford lived at 93 High Street with his wife and their seven children, along with his wife’s mother and two servants: a 36-year-old Chinese man named Lamert, and Catherine, an 18-year-old domestic servant from England. Safford retired in 1868 and the family moved to Cape Elizabeth, sometimes wintering in Cuba. He sold the Safford House in 1871. The Safford family is interred in Portland’s Western Cemetery in the Safford Hall Tomb.

In 1880, banker William H. Moulton purchased 93 High Street for $8,000. Moulton likely added much of the interior decoration, including the columns, tall wainscoting, and decorative plaster. He also likely re-oriented the staircase. (The marble mantels, another defining interior feature, are original to the 1858 house.)

Walnut wainscoting, balustrade, and pilaster in the Safford House front hall

St. Elizabeth’s Home at 87 High Street, ca. 1920 (courtesy Maine Historical Society)

Moulton and his wife had no children, and following their deaths, the building was sold to St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Asylum for $15,000. St. Elizabeth already owned the neighboring property at 87 High Street (now St. Elizabeth’s Child Development Center). They intended to use the Safford house “as an addition to St. Elizabeth’s Orphan Asylum”, but were unable to complete the required safety improvements to the structure, including the addition of automatic sprinklers and illuminated exit signs. The property was vacant for a time, and then used by other members of the Diocese.

In 1938, Shaw Business College purchased the building and converted it from a residential dwelling. Succeeding owners included a church (Unity Church of Truth), a social service organization (Volunteers of America), and the Portland Society of Art (now Maine College of Art), whose former staff and students recall using the rear lot as a sculpture garden.

In 1983, the building was sold to Safford Associates, and historic preservation covenants were placed on the property. Safford Associates renovated the building, adding a rear elevator and restoring interior spaces used as classrooms by the Portland Society of Art.

Safford House first floor in 1984

In 2004, Greater Portland Landmarks sold its longtime home at 165 State Street and began to search for a new location for the organization in a historic building in need of preservation. The following year, Landmarks purchased the Safford House. Suffering from deferred maintenance, the building needed significant repairs to its building systems, roof, and exterior facades. Landmarks developed a preservation plan and implemented the most critical repairs in 2010 with the replacement of the roof and repairs to the cornice and frieze. Additional work completed on the multi-phase preservation plan includes restoration of the original windows, masonry repairs, and interior improvements.

Greater Portland Landmarks’ headquarters at the Safford House are open to the public, so stop by anytime to say hello!

Safford House first floor in 2019

Women's Suffrage in Portland

By Kate Burch

One hundred years ago, Maine became the 19th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. To celebrate the centennial, meet some prominent Portland suffragists and see their homes:

Augusta Merrill Barstow Hunt
165 State Street

Augusta Hunt (1842-1932) was the first woman to cast a ballot in a Portland election. She and her husband, sugar refiner George Hunt, lived and raised their children in this house on State Street (now the Portland Magazine building, formerly the home of Greater Portland Landmarks!).

A women’s rights and suffrage activist and a social reformer, Augusta was president of the Portland chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for 15 years. Under her leadership, the WCTU established a day nursery, free kindergarten, and prison reform for female offenders. She successfully advocated for laws that gave mothers equal rights with fathers in the guardianship of children and allowed the election of women to school boards.

Augusta also served as president of the Home for Aged Women and the Portland Woman’s Council, and she was one of the first women admitted to the Maine Historical Society. She is the great-great-grandmother of actress Helen Hunt.

Florence Brooks Whitehouse
108 Vaughan Street

Florence Brooks Whitehouse (1869-1945) was a feminist and suffragist who fought for women to be fully equal with men. Born in Augusta, she moved with her husband Robert Treat Whitehouse to 108 Vaughan Street in Portland in 1894. They had a loving and egalitarian marriage, and Robert, an attorney, was the president of the Men’s Equal Suffrage League of Maine.

Florence founded the Maine Branch of the National Woman’s Party, a radical suffrage group created by Alice Paul that drew on the militant methods used by British suffragists. She helped establish suffrage groups in other cities throughout Maine, and worked closely with organized labor to campaign for women’s right to vote.

Florence supported many other social and political causes including a mother’s pension, Social Security, labor laws, the Equal Rights Amendment, and international disarmament. She was also an artist and writer who wrote two romance novels and co-authored several plays with her husband.

Lillian M.N. Stevens
1282 Westbrook Street

Lillian Stevens (1843-1914) was a temperance worker and social reformer who helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She began a career as a schoolteacher at age 16 after her father died of consumption. At 22, she married salt and grain wholesaler Michael Stevens and moved into his family home in Stroudwater, at the corner of Westbrook and Congress Streets. Michael was her partner and ally, joining her in advocating for social reform and women’s suffrage.

Lillian was a skilled executive and speaker who became president of the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1898. Along with her temperance work, she was advocated for women’s suffrage and other humanitarian causes. She established the first “safe house” in the country for abused women and children, successfully lobbied for prison reform, and campaigned for animal welfare. 

The Little Water Girl statue at the Portland Public Library is a memorial to Lillian Stevens, representing the WTCU’s effort to establish public drinking fountains and provide water as an alternative to liquor.

The University of Southern Maine includes some of these sites on their Portland Women’s History Trail. Learn more about the Maine Suffrage Centennial, and other events and exhibits commemorating the anniversary, here.

15 Things To Do This October!

As the days grow darker and cooler it’s time to get out and enjoy fall in Maine! If creepy, haunted places aren’t your thing, maybe a sunny afternoon picking apples is right for you? Join us and our friends working to preserve what is special about Maine at one or all of these events!

1) Chilling Celtic Tales - October 4th-5th

Victoria Mansion,109 Danforth Street, Portland

Join storyteller Janet Lynch for an evening of slightly spooky tales, similar to what Victoria Mansion's Irish servants would have told around Samhain, the Celtic holiday of Halloween. Tour the Mansion and get a glimpse of some rarely seen spaces in the house. (Geared towards children ages 5 to 17.)

2) Wreck of the Otraska Walking Tour- October 5th

Cemetery Office, Evergreen Cemetery, Stevens Avenue, Portland

On a warm morning in October 1861 seven young men sailed forth from Portland for a day of fishing aboard the Otraska. A sudden squall surprised them and led to the sinking of the vessel and the deaths of all but one. Stroll through Evergreen as Friends of Evergreen Cemetery weave the tale of the Otraska, her crew, their lives and demise.

3) Fifth Maine Museum’s Harvest Fest - October 12th

Fifth Maine Museum, Peaks Island, Portland

Celebrate the end of the season with an evening of jazz and a warm meal including harvest vegetables and cider at this 1888 building built as a memorial and reunion hall by veterans in the Fifth Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which served from 1861 to 1864 and saw action in several notable Civil War battles. In 1956, the building was given to the Peaks Island community to serve as a museum devoted to the history of the regiment and island.

4) Shaker Village Harvest Fest - October 12th

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, 707 Shaker Road (off Route 26), New Gloucester

Fresh picked apples, live music, wagon rides and more. If you haven’t visited the Sabbathday Lake Shaker village, the only active and functioning Shaker Community in the world, then what are you waiting for? Tour the Shaker Barn and the Shaker Village Museum during the festival. And if you can’t make it to the festival on the 12th, then consider participating in the Friends of the Shakers Fall Workday on October 26th.

5) Apple picking at a historic farm.

What is more Maine than an afternoon in a sunny orchard picking apples? Picking apples on a foggy morning in a hillside orchard, followed by a hot cup of cider back at the barn! Support local growers that work hard to keep our agricultural landscapes intact. Choose an orchard from a recent Portland Press Herald list, choose your own, or visit my favorite - Notre Dame Orchards, Shaker Hill Road, Alfred. This orchard is part of the Alfred Shaker National Register Historic District, and if you go, stop at the delicious bakery too! Proceeds from the Shaker Hill Bakery support the York County Shelter programs.

6) Last Day for Observatory Tours! - October 14th

Portland Observatory, 138 Congress Street, Portland

Climb the mighty tower one last time this season. Enjoy the foliage across greater Portland from one of the highest points in the city! Don’t miss out on being part of our record setting year!

7) Walk Among the Shadows 2019 - October 17th - 20th & October 24th - 27th

Eastern Cemetery, 224 Congress Street, Portland

If you dare, visit with seven spirits who will arise and tell of the perils and promises of separation from Massachusetts and attaining Maine statehood. Spirits Alive is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Portland’s historic Eastern Cemetery, established in 1668. The oldest historic landscape in the city, the cemetery is home to around 4,000 interred souls.

8) Stroll Haunted Yarmouth - October 18th - 19th & October 25th - 26th

Old Meeting House, 25 Hillside Street, Yarmouth, Maine

Royal River Community Players, Yarmouth Village Improvement Society and Yarmouth Historical Society present the second annual Stroll Haunted Yarmouth, a series of fictional stories (including one about a well-known bun cart?) based on historical facts surrounding Hillside Cemetery, the Old Meeting House, and the Reverend Thomas Green House.

9) Burning of Falmouth - October 18, 1775

No time to visit a farm or historic site? Read about the destruction of Portland, then known as Falmouth, on this day in 1775. Or watch this video by Preservation Award winning photo journalist Troy R. Bennett. The aftermath of the Burning of Falmouth was astounding. The entire town was burned, at least 300 buildings were destroyed, and almost half of the population, was left homeless just as winter began to set in.

A colonial Committee of Conference, consisting of Thomas Lynch, Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Harrison, happened to be with General George Washington when news of the Burning of Falmouth reached him. The Committee noted in their official report to the Continental Congress that every enlisted person from Falmouth begged leave to return home and find lodging and food for their families.  While it was, “too reasonable Request, to be refused,” the bombing was a frightening premonition of what could happen in the near future. Rumor was the British Navy anticipated bombarding coastal New England towns, which could lead to the resignations of thousands of soldiers. The Burning of Falmouth, along with the arrival of the King of England’s declaration that the colonies were in open rebellion, led directly to Congress establishing the Continental Navy in an effort to combat the British at sea during the Revolutionary War.

10)Tour the Tate House in Historic Stroudwater

Tate House Museum, 1267 Westbrook Street, Portland

Visit the historic home of Maine’s last Mast Agent and learn how New England forests fueled colonial industry, strengthened the British Royal Navy, and sparked rebellion.

11) Fright Night at the Grange - October 19

Freeport Harraseeket Grange No. 9, 13 Elm Street, Freeport

Gather all your ghouls and ghosts for a night of dancing at Freeport Harraseeket Grange No. 9. Put on your best costume and help support the Freeport, Pownal, and Durham Educational Foundation. Freeport Harraseeket Grange #9, established in 1874, was among the first subordinate Granges in the State of Maine and the nation. The grange is now housed in a barn-like former horse stall building in Freeport, Maine, that has been used since 1903.

12) Longfellow’s Haunted House - October 21st - 31st

Wadsworth-Longfellow House, 489 Congress Street, Portland

Based on Longfellow’s poem “Haunted Houses” this tour evokes the various family members that died in the Wadsworth-Longfellow House over its long history. Two tours will be offered this year; one for families and one for adults.

13) The Complete City Imagined Exhibit Opening - October 26th

University of New England Art Gallery, 716 Stevens Avenue, Portland

If you’re full of apple cider and you’ve had enough of Halloween, join our friends at the Portland Society for Architecture to celebrate a collection of work representing Portland's past and future possibilities. The exhibition will include displays of historic maps of Portland from the Osher Map Library, maps from "Mapping Portland: The Complete City," submissions from the PSA's design competition "The Complete City: Imagined," along with adjacent programming related to The Complete City. 

14) Identifying Kit & Catalog Houses from the Early 20th Century - October 29th

Safford House, 93 High Street, Portland

Join us to learn the history of kit homes in America and Maine and learn how to spot them on your own!

The American Dream of home ownership was fostered by reformers, developers, and building material companies in the early 20th century. This program will discuss the history of kit home manufacturing in this country and illustrate the variety of styles available from manufacturers and the various ways you can identify a kit home. 

The program will conclude with an hour long walking tour of the Oakdale Neighborhood where you’ll get to practice your skills in identifying kit homes that Landmarks believes it has identified in the neighborhood.

15) How to Uncover the Story of Your Historic Building - October 30th

Safford House, 93 High Street, Portland

Every home has a story if you know how to uncover it. Join Landmarks for this program where you will learn how to research the history of an historic home and share its story.  During the classroom portion of the class you will learn to identify architectural styles and to understand the historical background of residential buildings in Portland.

The program will conclude with a walking tour of the State Street neighborhood for hands-on practice in identifying building styles while exploring one of Portland’s oldest and most distinctive neighborhoods.

And if it’s a rainy October day, visit your local library (it’s probably in a historic building) and check out Wildfire Loose: The Week Maine Burned by Joyce Butler. It tells the harrowing story of 1947, when from October 13 to October 27, firefighters tried to fight 200 Maine fires, consuming a quarter of a million acres of forest, wiped out nine entire towns, and severely damage much of historic Bar Harbor. The Maine fires destroyed 851 homes and 397 seasonal cottages, leaving 2,500 people homeless. I read it when it was first published in 1979 and it started me on my journey to learn more about Maine history and its architectural past.

Happy October!

Julie Ann Larry

Keeping History Above Water

Images by Graphic Illustrator Jim Nuttle

How are Communities saving their Historic Neighborhoods and Landmarks from rising waters?

by Julie Ann Larry

Last week was both inspiring and depressing. I attended a terrific conference that brought together climate scientists, geologists, preservation professionals, government officials, and activists to discuss the threat of rising sea levels to historic buildings and sites around the world.

The conference kicked off during a violent thunderstorm that flooded city streets and gave attendees just a taste of the flooding that the beautiful old city of St. Augustine has been experiencing with greater frequency. I forded the flooded streets on Day One to hear journalist and author Jeff Goodell speak about his recent two month voyage to southwest Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier. It was well worth my wet feet! Mr. Goodell is a captivating story teller. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and wrote about his Antarctic journey in a recent feature. It’s worth a read.

Over the next three days I learned more than I ever knew possible about how water behaves from geologists and storm water professionals. I listened to national security professionals describe the challenges of tackling this issue in today’s political climate and the current impact of sea level rise on our military bases. And I heard heartbreaking stories from community activists, like Elder Theresa Dardar of the Point-au-Chien Tribe in Louisiana, whose communities are rapidly changing due to rising sea levels and the human interventions that have exacerbated those impacts.

Honestly, I left the conference overwhelmed. Where can we begin and how can we make an impact? The general consensus of the scientists was that even if we did everything we can to lesson our impact on the warming of our planet today, we’ll still be feeling the impact of the past decades for decades to come. Maine, like many communities, is behind in planning for a changing climate. So what can we do? The first step is understanding what are the current conditions of properties that may be at risk and documenting those risks, whether it is utility connections or basement openings below flood level, loose materials that might be ripped off in high winds, or shady trees that can help cool homes in our increasingly hotter summers.

So this summer Greater Portland Landmarks is conducting the first survey of historic resources at risk from the impacts of climate change in the state. We have four summer interns that will undertake the survey. They have been generously funded in part by a grant administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior and matching funds from several Landmarks members. We hope next year to continue the the work by developing educational materials that we can share with homeowners and others interested in what they can do in their communities to prepare for the coming changes. Unfortunately some of that planning will be making tough decisions about what we cannot save.

In the meantime we’ll continue to advocate for fewer demolitions and more reuse of older buildings in greater Portland. Why? Because when it comes to the environmental impacts of building construction, reuse is almost always preferable to new construction. In particular, renovated buildings with fewer new materials have the potential to realize the greatest short-term carbon savings. Since most climate scientists agree that immediate-term action is crucial to staving off the worst impacts of climate change, reducing construction waste and recycling our existing buildings will help our community reduce our carbon footprint.

Conserving our historic resources isn’t going to solve our climate problems, but it can and should be part of the solution.