EASTPORT, Maine — February 6, 2013 — One of the last remaining empty buildings located along downtown Eastport’s waterfront is a 28,800-square-foot, three-story brick structure that once housed a factory that 100 years ago made “ring key” cans for packing sardines.
Those behind the ongoing revitalization of Eastport’s downtown commercial center through historic preservation advocacy now see the long-vacant, 1908 Seacoast Canning Co. building at 15 Sea St. as a waterfront landmark that they are eager to bring back to life through adaptive reuse.
The Eastport downtown historic district comprises 31 buildings that are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Sea Street building, which has a footprint of just over .7 acres. There are now 30 buildings downtown that house artists’ studios, galleries, museums and shops, with many open year-round, not just during the busy summer tourist season. The downtown also is home to 13 places to eat, including ethnic restaurants offering Greek and Mexican fare.
“Nine years ago, there were 19 downtown buildings that were either empty or boarded up,” said Linda Godfrey of Eastport, who remains in the thick of efforts to sustain downtown revitalization momentum.
Godfrey and two other women — Nancy Asante and Meg McGarvey — formed a partnership, Dirigamus LLC, that in 2005 purchased the old sardine can-making factory. The firm’s name is Latin for “we lead,” Godfrey said, and is a shirttail linguistic relative of the state of Maine’s motto “Dirigo,” which translates “I lead.”
Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News