BETHEL — Eight more Maine structures have been entered into the National Register of Historic Places, including the Lower Meeting House and East Bethel Cemetery, according to Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

The Lower Meeting House at 1797 Intervale Road and the East Bethel Cemetery, built in 1831, are “a classic example of a type of meeting house or church and associated cemetery that was built by some rural Maine communities in the four decades before the Civil War, featuring late Federal-style massing and ornamentation and straight wooden pews, wainscoting, choir loft and pulpits,” Shettleworth said in a statement.

Christi Mitchell, historic preservationist for the National Register of Historic Places program, said it is “quite an involved process” for a building to be considered for the program.

“After a building is nominated, we send a team to do an in-house evaluation of the building to see if it’s eligible,” Mitchell said, “and if it’s deemed eligible, we have a period of research where we describe the building in detail. After that, it needs the approval of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the national office in Washington, D.C., before it can officially be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It takes about six months to a year.”

Randall Bennett, executive director of the Bethel Historical Society, said Associate Director Stan Howe was responsible for nominating the Lower Meeting House and the East Bethel Cemetery.

“Stan was the go-getter, in terms of working on getting the building nominated,” Bennett said Monday afternoon. “He has a very strong family connection to the building. In the past, he’s worked on the advisory board for the Maine Historic Preservation Committee, so he’s very active in these projects.”

Bennett said the Lower Meeting House is a “real interesting building” that looks pretty much as it was in the past.

“You hear about a lot of buildings being remodeled, and the Meeting House has had a few things fixed, but for the most part, it looks the way it did in the past,” Bennett said. “There’s a church and cemetery association in the area that has been actively involved in keeping the meeting house in use.”

The other seven structures entered into the National Register of Historic Places are:

* Clough Meeting House, Lewiston, built in 1846 by local farmer Henry M. Garcelon to serve the Second Free Will Baptist Church.

* Hancock Point School, Hancock, built in 1870 as a one-story, one-room schoolhouse, continuing to be a place to educate children until the eve of World War II.

* Lincoln School, Acton, built in 1884 as a one-story, one-room schoolhouse and was open until 1957.

* Marsh School, Prospect, built around 1880 as a one-room schoolhouse and used for that purpose until 1963, when it became a town hall and community center.

* The Phi Gamma Delta House, Orono, a Tudor-style fraternity house built in 1925 on the University of Maine campus.

* The Saco Central Fire Station, Saco, built in 1938 with assistance from a federal work relief program developed by the Roosevelt administration.

* Saint Hyacinth School and Convent, Westbrook, built in 1894 as a brick schoolhouse.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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