MOUNT DESERT — A historic landmark in the Town of Mount Desert is getting some tender loving care, thanks to an anonymous donor.

Set on an east-facing hill on Route 102 just north of Somesville, this old structure is known to most people as “the Merchant cabin.” Since the last renter moved out in about 1992, the building has been in slow but certain decline as harsh winters and neglect have taken their toll, said a spokesman for the Mount Desert Island Historical Society.

The last two winters have been especially hard on the structure. A door had fallen off, more holes appeared in the windows, and the back lean-to dropped significantly.

In the summer of 2009, an anonymous family trust approached the Mount Desert Island Historical Society with the offer of a grant to stabilize and preserve the exterior of the building so that it can remain a pleasing feature of the island landscape indefinitely. The cabin is on land that is part of an 86-acre parcel purchased from the Merchant Estate in 2000 by private investors, who eventually plan a combination of conservation and residential development there.

Knowing of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s interest in preservation of scenic landscapes, the MDI Historical Society approached the Trust to discuss how the two groups could move get the project started. The MCHT and the historical society contacted the landowners to ask for permission to proceed with the work. Their response was enthusiastic, according to a society spokesman.

“I always glance at the cabin when I come into Somesville,” said MDI Historical Society executive director Charlotte Singleton. “It is simple and pleasing to the eye. Our thanks go to the anonymous donor and to the landowners.  They’ve done the island community a great favor. We are very happy that Maine Coast Heritage Trust and the MDI Historical Society could work together on this.”

Contractors with experience in working with historic buildings were asked to submit proposals for the work that would be required to preserve the exterior. After consultation with the donor, carpenter/builder Eric Henry’s detailed proposal was accepted.

Eugene Merchant built the house for his family of five children in about 1910. After the Merchant family moved several hundred feet south to a cape built by the island’s first doctor, Kendal Kittredge, other individuals and families moved in and out of the little cabin and enjoyed its spectacular view of Babson Creek gently curving through the fields.

The last tenant, Barbara Strubell, remembers all the work she did over 14 years to install electricity, obtain running water, and maintain windows and doors. For a city girl, learning to keep a fire burning in the woodstove through the winter was a new challenge – and one she now recalls with pleasure. The building “is an island decoration,” she says, and she sounds very pleased that someone cares enough to want to help preserve it, said a historical society spokesman.

No effort is being made to make the cabin habitable. The anonymous donor’s interest is in retaining the natural exterior of the building, so that it can be enjoyed by anyone passing on foot or by car or bicycle.

The challenges of preserving the building are many, and finding suitable weathered materials has been particularly difficult, a spokesman said. One of the exterior walls is clapboard, another barn board, and a third is shingle. The lean-to at the back has been sinking into the ground for many years.

If anyone knows of a supply of unpainted weathered clapboards, the MDI Historical Society would like to know about them. A minimum of 175 square feet is needed, and up to 335 square feet could be used.

“We’re absolutely delighted that this generous donor has stepped forward to save a building that is a landmark on the island. It is in a beautiful setting and is representative of the simple and sturdy homes that used to dot the island,” says MDI Historical Society president Kathleen Miller.

David MacDonald, director of land protection at the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, agrees. “ As MCHT has worked over the years to conserve the nearby shoreline and meadows at Babson Creek, we were often asked, ‘What about that little cabin?’ We appreciate the historical society’s efforts to help provide a positive answer to that question and maintain a piece of Somesville’s past.”

For more community news, pick up a copy of the Mount Desert Islander.

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