Woodlawn Museum in Ellsworth, the centerpiece of which is a mansion formerly owned by the wealthy Black family, is close to having something it has not had in its 94 years.
A barn that has been under construction over the past 17 months is taking the place formerly occupied by the Blacks’ barn. The prior structure had deteriorated significantly and the museum board decided not to save it, even though a group of local residents wanted it preserved.
But the new barn will not be used for housing animals or storing the museum’s carriage collection, which is now in a smaller neighboring building. It will give Woodlawn Museum, which was founded in 1929, the ability to host events and gatherings that cannot be held inside the mansion, which is preserved and furnished the same way it was more than 100 years ago.
“The barn addition for Woodlawn is going to ensure its future because it is going to finally give it a stable bit of earned revenue, and it’s going to put the museum on the map for lots of different audiences,” said Kathy Young, the museum’s executive director. “Now, we’ll have folks who come for a wedding, and then they want to come back to the museum, or they’ll come for a conference.”
Aside from the museum, the grounds of the 180-acre property have long been a local attraction. There are hiking trails in the woods behind the house, and the long sloping front lawn is a popular spot for sledding in the winter. There have been community gardens on the property and, since 2007, a regulation croquet lawn.
With the addition of the new $5 million event barn, Woodlawn will be able to draw people for purposes other than touring the mansion or enjoying the outdoors. The main 2,000-square-foot room of the new building, named the Baker Center after former Ellsworth American owner Alan Baker, can seat up to 120 people. An adjacent commercial kitchen can be used to stage catered meals prepared offsite or rented by small-scale food producers, Young said.
Additional space upstairs in the barn can be used for small gatherings or classes, while the basement will have much-needed storage space for Woodlawn’s archive and other items. The building also has new bathrooms directly accessible from outside in case the event barn is not in use and is locked, she said.
It is not just Woodlawn that stands to benefit from the new barn, Young said. Though there are venues dedicated to hosting events and small conferences in Bangor, Brewer and Bar Harbor, there has been a noticeable lack of such available spaces in Ellsworth.
“We now will have truly a year-round indoor event space,” Young said, adding that local restaurants and hotels are expected to get business from people attending events hosted at Woodlawn.
“It becomes a gathering place for anything that brings people together and brings people to Ellsworth,” she said. “There’s no end to my mind of what can happen here.”
Interior work on the building is winding down, and Woodlawn is looking to hire a full-time events coordinator to oversee client bookings for the new barn, she said. Already, Downeast Senior College has signed on to rent the building on a regular basis, and other events have tentatively been scheduled for next year.
Woodlawn hopes to have it completed in the coming weeks and to use it intermittently through the winter, Young said. A formal ribbon cutting for the events barn will be scheduled for next spring.
