$7M bequest endows Castine Scientific Society

CASTINE – Ellenore W. Doudiet was a quiet, private woman who enjoyed painting and doing good deeds without seeking accolades or notoriety.

But her bequest to the Castine Scientific Society deserves a little attention, at the very least.

In her will, Doudiet left $7 million and her Perkins Street home to the group that operates the Wilson Museum, which her father, John Howard Wilson, founded in 1921.

The society is also set to receive the proceeds from the sale of Nautilus Island, the 30-acre oasis where she lived before her death in February 2004.

The endowment adds a fifth property to the museum complex on the Castine waterfront, but it also enacts a change in the group’s status as a public charitable organization.

The society is now considered a private foundation, meaning it is no longer dependent upon financial support from the public.

From now on, it will be required to spend at least 5 percent of its net assets on its own operations or on grants to other nonprofit associations.

“The Castine Scientific Society in future years will become a philanthropic influence in the Hancock County area for small nonprofits,” its vice president, Douglas Endicott, said Tuesday.

Society members celebrated the donation with a special open house Saturday at the museum, where the Perkins Street home was dedicated in Doudiet’s honor.

The organization is using the 1 1/2-story Cape Cod-style home as office space for four of its employees.

During her life, Doudiet played an important role in her family’s legacy, having taken over the responsibilities of the museum in the 1950s. She spearheaded public awareness campaigns, oversaw restoration projects on the museum’s properties and wrote a book about local history.

About 150 people attended the open house, including some of the benefactor’s own family members.

The event was low-key and informal, just as Doudiet would have wanted it, Wilson Museum director Patty Hutchins said. It was also an opportunity for attendants to view Doudiet’s previously unseen watercolor and oil paintings.

“It was exactly the best kind of occasion,” Hutchins said. “The people who came were very appreciative.”

The event prompted two other donations, one by the Castine Women’s Club and another by the Castine Garden Club.

The women’s group loaned to the museum two silver tea sets that were initially given to them by Doudiet’s mother and grandmother in 1953. The garden club planted a dolgo crabapple tree at the Perkins Street property.