After nearly two decades of being closed to the public, the stately Goddard Mansion at Fort Williams Park has been partially refurbished and opened to visitors again.
The ruins of the once-stately Goddard Mansion at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth have been partially refurbished and are now open to visitors after nearly two decades of being closed to the public.
Recent work stabilized some of the stone walls, new steps have been installed leading down to the oceanside pathway, and new signage inside the former carriage house shares the history of the 170-year-old building.
There’s also the option to scan a QR code at the entrance, allowing viewers to experience a life-size virtual tour, along with audio, of the mansion as it was when first built.
The Italianate villa pre-dates the fort. It was designed by New York architect Charles A. Alexander for lumber baron and Civil War Col. John Goddard. The mansion was acquired by the army during the expansion of Fort Williams in 1900, and used as officers’ quarters.
It had seriously deteriorated by the time the town acquired it in 1962, and a controlled burn demolished the remaining interior walls and roof in the 1980s — a less-than-successful effort to make it safer for visitors.
The view from the back of the carriage house, where a new stairway has been installed to replace a former path. PHOTO / TINA FISCHER
After decades of discussions over potential reuses for the structure — all of which were deemed far too expensive — the town surrounded the entire building with a chain-link fence in 2009 to ensure no one would be injured by the cap stones that occasionally tumbled down from the roof ledge.
This past winter that rusted barrier was replaced with some less obtrusive interior fencing in most of the mansion, but the carriage house — notable for its graceful arches — has been reopened as a sparse, open-air mini-education center.
Tammaro Landscaping, based in Cape Elizabeth, handled much of the site work and constructed a new rear pathway and elaborate stone steps leading from the carriage house down toward the water. The town also called on the firm to remove some small sections of stone walls that were deemed unsafe.
Tammaro Landscaping installed new granite steps and landscaping to provide access to the rear of the property and an oceanside walkway. PHOTO / COURTESY TAMMARO LANDSCAPING
Nick Tammaro told Mainebiz his firm excavated the area, removing brush and stumps, working around the historical retaining walls, and incorporating new landscape with the old.
“We navigated the significant ledge in the area to make room for the granite stair system, working around the trees that were identified to be ‘keepers’. The goal from the designer, Gorrill Palmer out of South Portland, was to create a staircase and path that looked like it has existed within the landscape for years, while making it easy to use and safe.”
Swenson Stone Works, based in Westbrook, supplied the granite and Tammaro hired Maine Line Fence in Cumberland to install handrails. New plantings were sourced from Skillins Greenhouses, based in Falmouth.
Tammaro said the entire project took four weeks and cost close to $75,000.
