U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited the midcoast town of Newcastle on Thursday to meet with local officials about the possibility of turning the Frances Perkins Homestead into a national monument.
The area is the former home of Frances Perkins, the first female Cabinet member and a crusader for workers’ rights in the early to mid 1900s. While serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s labor secretary, she championed changes in labor laws, including banning child labor and creating Social Security, a minimum wage and the 40-hour work week.
A group called the Frances Perkins Center is hoping to preserve the Newcastle homestead, which includes a brick house and barns on 57 acres. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that President Joe Biden is planning on signing an executive order to declare the homestead a national monument.
National monument status would help the Frances Perkins Center share her story with more people, according to Giovanna Gray Lockhart, executive director of the organization. In an interview, she said the designation would turn the homestead into federal property and make it eligible for congressional funds. The national attention would also help bring more economic assistance to preserve the land.
At Thursday’s event, local officials, state representatives, historians and others gave their reasons for supporting the preservation of the homestead. Annie Pathik, executive director of the Damariscotta Area Chamber of Commerce, said the monument could be a place where more people could learn about and take inspiration from Perkins.
“I love that Frances Perkins is another daughter of this state,” Pathik said. “What she was doing in the community she identified, we’re doing in our community here, and though it seems like a small community, the ripple effect is just extending.”
Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, Frances Perkins’ grandson, also spoke at the meeting. He told stories of visiting his grandmother, who died when he was 11. She kept sodas for him and his friends cold in the icebox and made sure he always had cookies.
Several Maine politicians, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and state Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, have voiced their support for designating the site as a national monument.
In previous statements, King praised Perkins’ devotion to workers’ rights, and Pingree said Maine would be honored to have a national monument dedicated to her.
“We know how much people love to visit Maine in the summer. We’ve seen the traffic on the roads,” Pingree said at the meeting. “Wouldn’t this be just one more wonderful stop when you step in and learn the history of Frances Perkins and expand the understanding of what she did for us?”
Haaland said women are underrepresented in the retelling of American history, and that places like the homestead ensure current and future generations can learn about the impactful women that shaped America.
“There are countless women who have shaped the course of our country’s history, but who aren’t household names in the way that they should be,” Haaland said. “Girls and boys growing up across America should know their names.”
Lockhart doesn’t know when Biden could sign the executive order that would forever designate Perkins’ Maine home as a national monument, but acknowledged it would have to be done before his term ends in January.
Until then, she said anyone who would like to show support for the designation can sign the organization’s petition. Names on the petition would end up in the bibliography of the proclamation designating the site’s status.
