Return of a landmark Volunteers rebuild the 1927 Camden-Rockport arch on Union Street

CAMDEN – The satisfaction that follows a job well done was written all over the faces of the men who rebuilt the Camden-Rockport arch as they watched the structure return to its place over Union Street on Tuesday morning.

The local landmark had begun to rot, and was taken down on April 24. A group of 17 men and one woman from the Camden Rotary and West Bay Rotary clubs volunteered to step up to the task of rebuilding the arch, with the support of their spouses and families, and sizable donations from area businesses.

Some of the volunteer crew gathered Tuesday at 9 a.m. to watch a forklift move the arch from the parking lot at EBS onto Union Street, and then a crane lift the 33-foot-long horizontal arch over the two, 16-foot high stanchions where it was secured.

Beyond serving as a landmark, and delineating the border between Camden and Rockport, the arch has its own history. Built in 1927, it welcomed visitors to Camden when Union Street was also U.S. Route 1. The highway has since been moved to avoid Rockport village.

Until the 1890s, Camden and Rockport were one town. Local lore has it that Camden wanted to spend money to improve its sidewalks to court tourists, and those in Rockport didn’t want to foot the bill. That division became destiny: Camden is a tourist Mecca and Rockport village is a summer haven for wealthy retirees.

The sign on the arch was changed to “Welcome to Peyton Place” for the 1957 filming of the movie; the volunteer crew hoped to have the arch back in place for the June 15-16 celebration of the anniversary of the filming, but rainy days intervened.

In 1985 a truck smashed into the arch, and it was rebuilt, with about 2 feet added to the stanchions. But that version of the structure did not hold up to the weather.

With any luck, the new arch will be around for the Peyton Place centennial.

The 1985 version was capped with aluminum flashing that didn’t quite cover the top. The new arch features a neatly creased copper cap.

A wide and nearly horizontal piece of trim is actually a PVC composite that looks like wood, making it rot-proof. The structural integrity is linked to a 4-inch by 12-inch laminated beam that runs the length of the arch. And each piece of wood got three coats of paint – even the sides that don’t face the weather.

The structure also features louvered vents to allow any moisture that gets inside to dry.

“This will last forever,” John Sherman of the West Bay Rotary Club, who is listed as an assistant project manager, observed as the arch was being delivered to the crane.

Kathy Giurtino, whose husband, Chuck, worked on the project, also attended the reinstallation.

“They’ve had more fun putting this together,” she said, as the men tied ropes to the arch and helped guide the forklift’s tines under it. Other wives echoed that observation.

Fred Payne of Camden, who works as a ship’s chief engineer, said he enjoyed volunteering during his recent shore stay.

“You can’t wait to pull in here in the morning,” he said. He marveled at the work ethic and problem-solving acumen of the volunteers, many of whom are retired from the executive level of the corporate world.

“It just went so smooth,” he said.

The crane’s steel cable was attached to a steel I-beam, which in turn carried fabric straps, which gently lifted the arch – whose weight was estimated at 2 tons – to the stanchions. A Camden police cruiser blocked traffic from the normally busy Union Street for about an hour as the work was completed.

The Department of Transportation wanted the stanchions moved farther away from the road during the reconstruction project, but the state finally relented and let them stay where they have been since 1927. The stanchions were rebuilt with 4-inch by 8-inch hemlock posts and 4-inch by 10-inch horizontal members, to which angle steel on the arch was lag screwed.

The stanchions were sided with Maine white cedar.

EBS donated $9,600 worth of materials, and other business donors included Benjamin Moore Paints, Maine Coast Construction, North Atlantic Painting, Rockport Steel, Frost & Bryant Builders, Coastal Copper, Sampson Woodworking, Cedarworks and Lermond Tree Works.

Bob Davee, who became the unofficial foreman of the project, watched and directed the installation process with concern written on his face until it was complete, then he gave the crane operator a thumbs-up and a grin.

Asked how it felt, he said: “It feels like my summer can begin now.”

His wife said she had a list of projects for him to attack around the house.