Frances Perkins Homestead saved from Most Endangered Places list
Frances Perkins Center executive director Michael Chaney, right, and board chair Sarah Peskin, left, assume stewardship of the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark from Frances Perkins’ grandson Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, center. Courtesy photo
Frances Perkins Center executive director Michael Chaney, right, and board chair Sarah Peskin, left, assume stewardship of the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark from Frances Perkins’ grandson Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, center. Courtesy photo
On Friday, Jan. 3, following a decade of planning and fundraising, the Frances Perkins Center successfully purchased the Frances Perkins Homestead to preserve this National Historic Landmark as an educational resource for Maine and the nation. This achievement was made possible by the generosity of many donors and friends who seek to honor the principles and legacy of Frances Perkins, United States Secretary of Labor 1933-45 and the woman behind the New Deal.
“There is no contribution that a Cabinet member has made in the history of this country that has had the lasting kind of effect on all of us and the way we live than what Frances Perkins did,” notes political commentator and writer Lawrence O’Donnell in the new documentary, “Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare.”
Plans are already underway to prepare the site’s historic structures and 57-acre cultural landscape for future program and public use. Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust will continue to monitor its conservation easement on the property and will work in partnership with the Center to explore safe and appropriate access to this remarkable Damariscotta River property at 478 River Road, Newcastle.
“As permanent stewards of the Frances Perkins Homestead,” explains the Center’s board chair Sarah Peskin, “the Frances Perkins Center can now work toward the creation of a place-based education center where we can advance the principles of Frances Perkins, inspire learning among students, scholars, and people of all ages, and continue to engage civic leaders in nonpartisan dialogue through programs of learning and civil discourse to address current and future economic and social issues. We look forward to working with Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust in managing this culturally significant property.”
To learn more about how you can help the Frances Perkins Center complete its capital campaign to further preserve and protect this National Historic Landmark, contact Laura Chaney, development director, at (207) 563-3374 or email info@francesperkinscenter.org
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