Vernacular Buildings Maine

Stonington Opera House // 1912

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The Stonington Opera House in Stonington, Maine, is a historic early 20th century community center and theater in a vernacular style. The theater was built in 1912, on the site of an earlier hall built in 1886, that seated more than 1,000 people and hosted national touring shows that arrive via steamboat from Rockland. The original theater was destroyed by fire in 1910 and was soon-after rebuilt. It continued the practice of the earlier facility, hosting theatrical productions, lectures, and community events. Its floor was covered with removable folding chairs, so that the space could be used for dances and other social events. It was fitted for screening films around 1918, which came to dominate its uses in the mid-20th century. Unlike other early theaters, which were generally incorporated into municipal buildings, this one was specifically built as a profit-making venture, and was designed to accommodate elaborate theatrical productions, and is probably the oldest of this type in the state. After being vacated for much of the later half of the 20th century, the Stonington Opera House was restored and reopened by Opera House Arts, a local nonprofit, in 2000, and is once again used primarily for film screenings and theatrical productions.

Dry Mills Schoolhouse // 1858

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Before the use of automobiles for everyday use, the winding roads in towns all over New England were once lined by charming one-room schoolhouses, to educate children without forcing them to travel too long of distances (like many of our parents and grandparents who had to walk to school uphill both ways!) The Dry Mills School was built by 1858 and is the last one-room schoolhouse of twelve that were built in Gray, Maine. All of the others have  been sold by the town, converted into houses, and/or torn down.  The school was in operation from before the Civil War until it closed its doors to public education in 1958.  In the early 1990’s, at a cost of $12,000, the building and the original granite slab foundation were moved to their current location on the Maine Wildlife Park Road and has been restored to its original appearance thanks to local residents who advocated for the preservation of the building. The interior retains an original chalkboard, period wood stove and furnishings. Today, it is a living museum, attesting to the educational environment in the mid 1800’s and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Southport Town Hall // 1866

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While staying at the Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, I took the chance to visit the nearby island-town of Southport! The town of Southport incorporated in 1842 when it separated from Boothbay and became known as Townsend, Maine. Just eight years later, in 1850, Townsend changed its name to Southport, after Southport, England. The town has a population of just over 600, which grows in the summer months as the island and nearby Squirrel Island (also a part of Southport) has many summer homes dotted along the coastline. The present-day Southport Town Hall was built in 1866 by the Ladies Sewing Circle of the Southport Methodist Episcopal Church as a meeting place for the women of town to meet and socialize, it also was rented to the town for town meetings. Eventually, the town purchased the building in 1900, where it has remained the town hall ever since.

Sherman’s Livery & Garage – Maine Trading Post // 1908

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This vernacular, shingled structure was built in 1908 to house two very different modes of transportation, horses and automobiles. The structure here is located in the charming village of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Sherman’s Livery and Garage held stalls for horses on the ground floor with an elevator that moved hay, carriages and sleighs to the upper floor. Owners of horses could board them here and many would rent their horses to visitors who arrived to town by steamer, from this location. The building was set up for automobiles as well, but that began in earnest by 1915 when two Ford touring cars were added to the inventory here. Today, the building is known as the Maine Trading Post and houses Kaler’s Restaurant.

Hiram Lodge 39, Knights of Pythias // 1895

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Another of the extant, significant vernacular buildings in the small town of Hiram, Maine, is this large frame building on Main Street. Hiram Lodge #39, Knights of Pythias, was organized in 1883 and a building was constructed on this site around that time. The first meeting hall was destroyed by fire in 1895, and soon-after replaced by this large lodge building, which is possibly the largest wooden building in town!  On the destruction of that first “hall” by fire in 1895, the Lodge hired Alva Ward to build what is probably the largest wooden building extant in Hiram. The Knights of Pythias Hall is important as a remnant of Hiram’s earlier commercial prosperity, with general store on the first floor, a large hall on the second floor (where dances, theatrical performances, and public suppers were held), and the lodge hall on the third floor.

Hiram Village Store // c. 1850

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Hiram is a small, rural town in Oxford County, Maine, and has a handful of notable old buildings. The town was incorporated in 1814 and was occupied by white settlers as early as 1774. The land here has long been heavily wooded and the town’s name was inspired by the biblical King Hiram of Tyre whose kingdom was set among “timber of cedar and timber of fir.” The town’s two villages, Hiram Village and South Hiram, grew along the Saco River, and are typical rural villages built around industry and modest frame dwellings. This commercial building is one of the larger structures in Hiram Village and it dates to the mid 19th century. The structure was owned by Thomas B. Seavey, who purchased a store built on the site as early as 1816, from a Simeon Chadbourne. The store was enlarged and became a major hub of the sleepy town in the 19th and 20th centuries, but like many such structures, struggled due to changing of shopping habits and rural decline. The building, with its vernacular and Greek Revival lintels, appears vacant today.

Whitefield Union Hall // 1900

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Finding a Grange Hall in Maine are almost as common as finding an old church, they are everywhere! Located the next town over from Jefferson, Maine’s Willow Grange Hall, the town of Whitefield has an equally charming example. The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry was established in 1867 to advance methods of agriculture, as well as to promote the social and economic needs of farmers in the United States. Communities all over built grange halls where farmers and residents could meet and discuss prices, trade, and share tips for larger crop yields. The Whitefield Union Hall was built in 1900, primarily under the auspices of the Whitefield Fish and Game Club, but with design input from the local Grange chapter, which contributed funds to its construction and was also a tenant. It was until 1919 the only public hall with a stage in southern Whitefield, playing host to dances, meetings of fraternal and social organizations, and other community events. The hall was managed by an association of the two organizations until 1947, and by the Fish and Game Club after the Grange chapter merged with another in 1969. The club closed down in 1974, and the hall is now managed by a union consortium of village community groups. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

East Blue Hill Post Office // c.1884

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Before the days of USPS trucks delivering mail to your door, mail was delivered to local post offices for pick-up daily. Due to this, many villages had their own post offices to service local communities better due to ease of access by residents. A post office first arrived in East Blue Hill Village, Maine in 1873, likely due to the distance traveled to the central village for mail. By 1884, George Long built this vernacular structure as the village post office, which belonged to members of the Long family, who also served as postmasters, until 1997. The post office is distinct in the state as the only known example of a purpose-built post office facility that is not owned by the United States Postal Service, and that was not built or adapted to its standards. The building sold out of the Long family in 1997, when it was purchased by the East Blue Hill Village Improvement Association, who have preserved it ever-since!