Millay House Rockland a third of the way toward fundraising goal

ROCKLAND — Millay House Rockland has started a GoFundMe campaign to finish the renovations of the double house, at 198-200 Broadway, where Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was born.

With the help of Roxanne Quimby, the Davis Family Foundation, the Fisher Charitable Foundation, and many individuals, the Rockland Historical Society was able to purchase the literary landmark in 2016 and restore the exterior – saving it from demolition. Millay House Rockland, a new nonprofit literary organization, was created in 2017, and the historical society deeded the house to the new organization.

Since then, Millay House Rockland has replaced the heating and electrical systems and prepared the interiors for the final phase of restoration. It is planned that both sides will be historically accurate and modestly comfortable, so that one side can be rented to provide income for literary activities on the other, such as a writer-in-residence and workshops in cooperation with other literary organizations of Maine.

To renovate the kitchen, the living/dining room, and the powder room downstairs, and the three bedrooms, the bathroom, and the hall upstairs, on both sides, will cost $160,000. Millay House Rockland has received $56,000 in grants, with an additional $20,000 promised after $100,000 is reached.

In the meantime, Millay House Rockland has sponsored three Millay Arts and Poetry Festivals each fall; they have co-sponsored three celebrations of Millay’s February birthday with the Farnsworth Art Museum; and they sponsor Poetry Slams with FOG Bar and Café and rooftop performances of Millay’s poetry at Harbor Square Gallery during the First Friday Art Walks.

The Millay House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March of 2019. It is named the “Singhi Double Cottage” for its builder, Wellington Singhi, and its significant form of architecture – the double house, each side of which is a mirror image of the other. Many double houses were built in Rockland during the nineteenth century to provide affordable housing for brothers, fathers and sons, and business partners.

Also, this year, the Kennebec Valley Garden Club has put up Christmas decorations at the Blaine House (the Governor’s Mansion in Augusta) in recognition of the 100th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote.

The Christmas trees honor notable women of Maine, including Edna St. Vincent Millay, with items that reflect their significant contributions to Maine’s culture and history.

“As the economy of this area offers more and more opportunities for cultural heritage tourism, it is amazing that such a small population can support so many museums, galleries, opera houses, theaters, world class conferences – art, history, music, theater, and current events,” said Millay House Rockland, in a news release.

Millay House Rockland will add literary arts to the cultural opportunities available along the Midcoast.

“Maine has had many poets and writers to inspire us – young and old,” said Millay House.

To contribute to Millay House Rockland’s GoFundMe campaign, go to: www.gofundme.com/f/millay-house-rockland-renovations.

“It’s a great way to celebrate the legacy of Edna St. Vincent Millay, who was born in Rockland and grew up in Union and Camden,” said MHR. “She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and became one of the most famous poets of the first half of the twentieth century.”