Each year, Maine Preservation makes an appeal to its supporters to make a financial gift to the organization outside of membership toward the end of the year. Maine Preservation gratefully accepts any amount.

Maine Preservation has had a great year of growth and change. Late this spring, the organization moved into its first solo statewide headquarters, the 1858 Italianate Captain Reuben Merrill House in Yarmouth. We are grateful to the house’s owner Merry Chapin, the great-granddaughter of Captain Merrill, for leasing Maine Preservation the house with its many historic furnishings, and entrusting us with stewardship of this historic property. We have received a terrific amount of positive media attention around our move, and contractors and volunteers have been incredibly generous in improving this impressive landmark. And in conjunction with unveiling our new home to 300 attendees of our Open House and 160 attendees of our successful Inaugural Gala, Maine Preservation launched our new website, funded generously by the Davis Family and Elmina Sewall Foundations.

We have achieved policy victories, too. Despite tense debates on other matters in the State House this year, Maine Preservation with the Maine Downtown Coalition successfully advocated for the extension of the Maine Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for an additional decade by the Maine Legislature with a unanimous bipartisan vote. These development projects take years to arrange and having plenty of time to complete the project is critical to gaining financing for them.  Over $145 million in construction costs have been committed since the Maine credit was introduced in 2008, bringing investment funding into Maine, creating property tax revenue for towns, hiring Maine building craftsmen and professional consultants and renewing significant commercial and apartment properties that spur more development. The tax credit is a big boost for the real estate sector of the state’s economy, which has been particularly hard hit during the recession.

And as the weather turns colder, it’s a good time to tell you that the Maine State Planning Office contracted Maine Preservation to write the state’s guidelines for the appropriate weatherization of historic properties to accompany MUBEC, the Maine Uniform Building & Energy Code. Historic properties are grandfathered from the State’s energy codes, but we all agree that reducing energy consumption in older properties is critical for their livability and our broader societal goals of reducing fuel dependence.

While we continue to take calls on a daily basis about preservation projects all over the state, our Field Service Advisors Chris and Rochelle have visited over 120 communities this year all over the map, giving free guidance to the little church on the corner and the massive mill rehab alike. We have several Revolving Fund prospects materializing, and our six easements are still in force, including Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.

We are grateful for your generous support. We hope you can join us next year for our 40^th Anniversary – Celebration of Preservation!

Best wishes for the holidays.

Yours truly,

Greg Paxton                      Arron Sturgis
Executive Director            President

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