Bangor Hamlin House open for summer tours

BANGOR – Situated atop a pleasant rise of land on the corner of Fifth and Hammond streets in Bangor sits the Hannibal Hamlin house, built in 1851 for William T. Hilliard. One of Bangor’s many architectural treasures, it looks out across several church spires to the Penobscot River and the blue hills beyond. The residence, owned by Bangor Theological Seminary, is open for half-hour tours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays, July 22 and 29. There is no charge for the tour.

It is believed that Hannibal Hamlin came to live at 15 Fifth St. in the late 1850s. He had the house enlarged and remodeled, giving it a slate-covered mansard roof.

The seminary acquired the property in 1934, according to a Bangor Daily News article dated Jan. 25 of that year. The home is now the official residence of the seminary’s president, William Imes and wife Judy.

Imes said he wanted to open the house for tours this month “to remind people that the seminary is part of the community, and to share what is a part of Bangor’s history.”

Hannibal Hamlin, vice president during Abraham Lincoln’s first term as president of the United States, was one of Bangor’s most illustrious citizens. He practiced law in Hampden from 1833 to 1848. He served as a Maine state representative, was governor of Maine briefly, served in the U.S. Senate and was U.S. Minister to Spain later in life.

Visitors to the residence are greeted by the pleasant babble of water from a garden fountain installed on the property this summer.

Inside, high ceilings and pedimental woodwork are the outstanding features of the rooms. Personal items in the house associated with Hannibal Hamlin include furniture, photographs, paintings and books.

One photograph shows Ellen Hamlin, Hannibal’s second wife and sister of his first wife, Sarah, as an elderly woman with Louise Hamlin, a family connection, beside her. The beaded and bustled aquamarine court presentation gown – made in Paris, France – that Mrs. Hamlin wore when Hannibal was presented to the Spanish court in 1881 as U.S. Minister to Spain, is now part of the Maine State Museum collection.

Another photograph shows an elderly Hannibal Hamlin seated by a fireplace in one of the rooms. In the photo, a heavily fringed bench covered in needlepoint stands against the wall. That bench is still in the house in the parlor.

A bookcase in another room harbors a hatbox containing one of Hamlin’s top hats. The same bookcase holds spectacles, inkwells and writing instruments associated with the Hamlin family.

Original to the house is a tall clock made in 1810 by Frederick Wingate of Augusta, who was a well-known clock maker of that time and place.

Hamlin’s books include his law books and the works of Dickens, Shakespeare and Robert Browning.

For all its historical significance, an old building like the Hamlin House requires upkeep. Imes said work needs to be done on the roof and the exterior needs to be painted.

Later this summer, a sign may be placed in front of the house to indicate its historical significance.

Hamlin collapsed at the Tarratine Club on Main Street but died at his home on July 4, 1891. On the day of his funeral several days later, downtown Bangor was heavily draped in black and white. Thousands filed by his open casket at the Unitarian church where he was a member. Floral tributes included pine branches, ferns, wild roses, palms, myrtle from Paris Hill where he was born, a begonia wreath, ivy pillows, a lily of the valley cross and laurel twined about the chandeliers of the church.

The funeral cortege making its way to his burial place at Mount Hope Cemetery stretched all the way back to Pearl Street.

To learn more about tours of the Hamlin house, call Bangor Theological Seminary at 942-6781.

Ardeana Hamlin is Hannibal Hamlin’s third cousin six times removed.