Historic places register adds 5 Maine churches

AUGUSTA – Five Maine church structures have been entered in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. This designation indicates that the property is worthy of preservation and protection as part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

The Beth Eden Chapel, completed in 1900, appears to have been the first religious facility erected in the Naskeag area of what is now Brooklin. The structure is a small wooden frame building that employs a shingled pent gable and corner tower with a flared second stage that is evocative of turn-of-the-century architectural design. It is significant in showing how church building committees and their contractors approached the question of design.

The First Baptist Church in East Lamoine, erected in 1832 and remodeled in 1879, is a wooden frame building designed and constructed by Ellsworth architect-builder Seth J. Tisdale. The structure is a Greek Revival style building with a pedimented gable roof and wide door surrounds. The original tower was a squat, Gothic Revival style, but a new tower was designed and built in 1879, which updated it to current architectural fashion, setting it among the Italianate-style buildings erected in the 1850s and 1870s.

The Grace Episcopal Church in Robbinston, erected in 1882, is a vernacular Gothic Revival wooden frame building, virtually unaltered on the exterior and interior. It is the home of the Robbinston Historical Society and displays an important local example of religious architectural expression in late 19th century Maine.

Also named were:

. The Proprietors Meeting House in Buxton.

. The Union Church in Durham.