Large downtown Bangor tree cut to make way for historical society restoration

Crews on Thursday cut down the majority of a large tree outside the Bangor Historical Society’s Thomas Hill House that stood in the way of significant restoration work the property needs.

After two years of fundraising, the Bangor Historical Society announced it raised more than $450,000 in total to begin installing a new fence and restoring the building’s portico, but the basswood tree had to come down before construction could begin.

As of May 1, the historical society has raised $75,891 for the new fence and $378,250 for the portico restoration, according to the organization’s website.

The historical society plans to install an ornamental fence on the granite walls along High and Union streets and a chain-link fence across the back of the property.

The foundation of the building’s portico, meanwhile, is collapsing, causing the granite flooring to become uneven and pull away from the rest of the home. The poor condition of the portico also threatens the structural integrity of the house itself, according to the historical society.

To fix the portico, crews will remove and restore the granite slabs and columns, excavate and rebuild the foundation, then replace the slabs and columns.

The basswood tree’s roots both disrupt a wall along the property and a drainage system that needs to be installed to keep the wall and portico in place after the restoration project, according to a May 1 Facebook post from the historical society.

Though the tree isn’t original to the Thomas Hill House, which was built in 1835, the organization looked into saving the tree by trimming the roots only, “but the amount of trimming necessary is just too great to save the tree, ensure its health, keep it from dying and potentially falling on Hill House,” the post reads.

The historical society vowed to repurpose as much of the wood as possible and replace the tree once the restoration project is finished.