Granite Wall Work Begins – Hill House Restoration Project
The Bangor Historical Society is in the process of rehabilitating the granite wall surrounding Hill House and restoring the fence that used to sit atop the wall. The wall restoration is started on April 16th.
The fence is being restored in order to bring back the property’s historic presence, control traffic flow around the property, and to secure the property. In addition to the ornamental fence atop the granite perimeter walls along High and Union Streets, BHS will be installing black chain link fencing along the tree line with our abutting neighbor on Union St. and across the back of the property.
As of May 1, 2024
BHS was awarded a grant of $60,000 from the City of Bangor, through its CDBG grant and you helped us get the rest of the way with your generous contributions for this estimated $70,000 project. BHS has raised the estimated $70,000 for the project with a small contingency of just over $5000.
The contingency has already been needed. Unfortunately and sadly, BHS has had to make the tough decision to take the basswood tree on High Street down because its roots are encroaching on the wall and are in the way of installing the new drainage system which is needed to ensure the sustainability of the restoration of the granite wall and the portico. We had hoped that we could just trim the roots but after consulting with an arborist it was concluded that just trimming the roots was not solution. The risk of the tree weakening from substantial root trimming and it dying and potentially falling on the house is too great a risk to take. Protecting and Preserving Hill House is paramount in the BHS stewardship mission and hard choices sometimes have to be made.
We are planning to replace the tree when new landscaping is done after the restorations are finished. We will update again as progress is made. We will leave the portal open in the hope of raising funds for the fence project contingency in case more bumps in the road come up and to go towards the new landscaping.