The sun porch of the Octagon House on Saturday, June 24. Two separate grants have been utilized to repair the sun porch and maintain it’s historical value. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Historical Society [FHS] received a grant of $4,930 on Saturday, May 17, from Maine Preservation, which will be used to continue renovations to the sun porch of the Octagon House located in downtown Farmington at 126 High Street.

FHS was one of 17 organizations to receive grant funding from Maine Preservation, partnered with the 1772 Foundation, as part of their fourth annual The 1772 Foundation Historic Preservation Grant, which awarded $128,952 to 17 non-profit organizations maintaining historic buildings in Maine.

“With these grants, The 1772 Foundation continues its investment in preservation efforts that protect assets of community importance,” Margaret Waldock, President of The 1772 Foundation, said.

Grants were provided for exterior repair and restoration including painting, surface restoration, chimneys, porches, roofs, windows, foundations and sills, masonry repointing, and installation of fire/security systems. The grants are one-for-one matching grants, which means recipients must match the amount of the grant to receive it in full.

“We are pleased to direct much-needed capital improvement funds to organizations for rehabilitation projects – enhancing accessibility and improving energy efficiency and climate resilience,” Tara Kelly, executive director of Maine Preservation, stated in a press release. “The 1772 Foundation funds supplement the limited in-state grant resources currently available to support preservation efforts in Maine.”

Built in 1858, the Octagon House, otherwise known as the Hiram Ramsdell House, has been in the possession of the FHS since 2013 after the passing of Deborah Mallett Cressall in 2012. Since then, The Octagon House has been a community staple, celebrating the rich history of Farmington through it’s preservation.

FHS previously received $4,000 from the The 1772 Foundation Historic Preservation Grant in 2022, which they used to begin renovations to the sun porch at the Octagon House. “It was for exterior work and foundation work,” Marion Scharoun, trustee and former president of the FHS, said in an interview.

To match the amount in the grant, Scharoun and the rest of FHS held a soirée at the Octagon House in July of last year. The event helped the non-profit raise the money needed to match the grant from Maine Preservation.

“It was good,” Scharoun said, “because there were a lot of people that came that hadn’t been into the house in years.

“We also had a silent auction,” she added. “The best item was a free ride in one of our member’s Model A Ford.”

According to Scharoun, they will plan another event similar to last year at the Octagon House, but details have not been finalized. If matched, the grant will fund the remaining interior work as well as roof work on the sun porch.

FHS recently had work on one of their other historical landmarks, the Titcomb House completed recently with a $15,000 grant received from the Davis Family Foundation in December of last year. New Sharon contractor Frank Smith was in charge of the work, which involved replacing a garage door with a barn door to match an old photo of the Titcomb House from many year ago.

Smith also renovated one of the rooms into a storage space for a collection of newspaper books. Dubbed the “Newspaper Room”, guests can look through old copies of the Franklin Chronicle and the Franklin Journal from as far back as the 1800s.

“I have no idea how these came into the historical society,” President Jane Woodman said. “I’m going to say we have maybe eight cases and they go back to 1800s.”

Woodman also added that the newspaper books have been thoroughly cleaned and organized in chronological order.

So it’s wonderful,” she added. “It’s protecting the archives.”