Perkins’ Home in Maine National Historic Landmark

On June 13, 2015, the Frances Perkins Center hosted a ceremony at the Brick House in Newcastle, Maine, the ancestral home of Frances Perkins, a Worcester native and the Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Roosevelt. A plaque was unveiled identifying the Brick House as a National Historic Landmark. About 2,500 historic places bear this distinction, representing the most important 3% of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

The 57-acre property has been in the Perkins’ family for about 250 years, the Brick House itself dating from 1837. It is still a private residence today, the home of Frances Perkins’ grandson, Tomlin Coggeshall. 

Following the ceremony at the Brick House, the Frances Perkins Center in nearby Damariscotta hosted a free performance of Madame Secretary, Frances Perkins in the Lincoln Theatre next door to the Frances Perkins Center on Main Street.

Other summer events at the Brick House, sponsored by the Frances Perkins Center, included the annual garden party on August 14, marking the 80th birthday of Social Security, a program that was the centerpiece of Perkins’ career.

For more information on the Frances Perkins Center and the Brick House, visit ww.francesperkinscenter.org.