LIVERMORE — When people travel North on Norlands Road, they may be surprised to see a lovely steeple rise above the landscape. The steeple is atop the oldest building at Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, and these days it’s encased in modern-day steel scaffolding.
That scaffolding is the sign of a transformation taking place. Norlands, a museum offering an authentic view of 19th-century life in rural Maine, is restoring the meeting house steeple and bell tower at the living history site. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and was the first church in Livermore to have a steeple, Norlands officials said.
The restoration includes strengthening the framing with new posts, building and installing a new bell wheel, and repairing or replacing the upper and lower railings, decorative lattice work, clapboards and other deteriorating woodwork. The weather has not been kind to the structure over the past decade. The flashing will be repaired where it meets the roofline. The entire steeple, from the roofline up, will be scraped, sanded, primed, caulked and painted.
When finished, it will be more structurally sound and weather tight. It will shine bright once again – harkening back 1828 when Israel Washburn Sr. and his neighbor, Otis Pray, raised money to build the church. The work is expected to be completed in October.
Norlands has been able to start the restoration, thanks to recent grant funding awarded to the center. The Maine Steeples Fund, a component fund of the Maine Community Foundation, awarded a $60,000 matching grant. Norlands is halfway to meeting the match. Earlier this year, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution donated $10,000 to the preservation project. The grant funding was made possible through the sponsorship of Mary Dillingham-Burnt Meadow Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, based in Lewiston.
To date, three individual donors have given a total of $25,000. This project, like most major restoration projects, is not inexpensive and will cost upwards of $136,000. Norlands is seeking cash donations and gifts-in-kind to finish meeting the match and the expense of the project.
“The steeple is a beacon that contributes to the quality of place at Norlands and in the greater Livermore community,” said Harry Simon, president of the Board of Trustees. “To think that more than a thousand people attended the dedication of the meeting house in 1829 and we are seeing the same view as the Washburns enjoyed is just incredible. We are doing everything we can to preserve the structure.”
Sheri Leahan, Norlands’ director, said, “We are thrilled to have the support of the DAR, an organization that supports historic preservation and education, as well as the Maine Steeples Fund, a fund that supports historically and culturally significant buildings. Both funding opportunities fit within our mission. We’re so grateful that they have included us among the many organizations they champion.”
For more information, contact Simon at harry.simon@norlands.org, visit www.norlands.org or call 207-897-4366.
