Not far from where Maine’s current governor lives, the former home of Maine’s most famous governor is about to undergo a significant restoration. Gov. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s house on Maine Street in Brunswick, which had served as an apartment house for 44 years before being saved from the wrecking ball in 1983, is the beneficiary of a $50,000 investment to restore the home to its former beauty.

The home of Brewer’s native son is no stranger to significant renovations. When Gov. Chamberlain purchased the home shortly after the end of the war, he made significant changes. Piazzas and chimneys were added. The building was jacked up and a new first floor was added for guests. The entire building was repainted in keeping with the Victorian tradition.

But as time wore on, the building’s appearance changed, too. In 1939, 25 years after Gov. Chamberlain’s death, one of his heirs sold the building. Its decline was marked, until the Pejebscot Historical Society saved it from demolition and did what it could to shore up the structure. Now, the society is attempting to save the building, restoring it to the Italianate appearance it bore when Gov. Chamberlain lived there.

Gov. Chamberlain’s appeal as a historical figure is impressive. The hero of Little Round Top, wounded eight times in Civil War battles, Gov. Chamberlain was the only U.S. officer promoted to general on the battlefield — when Gen. Ulysses Grant assumed the then-Col. Chamberlain had received a mortal wound, a shot through the hip that Chamberlain amazingly survived.

The receiver of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, president of Bowdoin College, four-term governor and the last documented Civil War soldier to die of his wounds (in 1914), Chamberlain, understandably, is someone who people, near and far, want to learn a lot more about. Maine is truly fortunate that the Pejebscot society has taken on preserving his postwar home, where Chamberlain made just as many remarkable achievements as he did in combat. It’s a tribute to the man, tribute to Maine’s role in saving the nation, and just as importantly, it saves a significant bit of Brunswick’s architectural heritage.