Eastport mustard mill-museum looks for new life with $2M renovation
Courtesy / Raye’s Mustard Mill
From left, First National Bank Business Development Officer Amanda Gardner, Eastport Branch Manager Tari Camick and First President and CEO Tony McKim present $25,000 to Raye’s Mustard Mill Museum incorporators Karen and Kevin Raye and board chair Tessa Chaffey Ftorek.
The planned $2 million overhaul of a unique cultural attraction in Eastport has recently received a couple of financial boosts.
Raye’s Mustard Mill is a working museum at 83 Washington St., and the last remaining stone-ground mustard mill in North America. Each year, thousands of tourists visit the 115-year-old mill to see the production process.
Now, with a gift of $25,000, First National Bank is helping jumpstart the museum’s effort to construct a new building in Eastport.
“This generous donation from the First is a wonderful boost to the effort to preserve America’s last remaining traditional stone-ground mustard mill as a working museum,” Tessa Chaffey Ftorek, the museum’s board chair, said in a news release. “The mill has long been an iconic feature of Eastport as the last surviving vestige of Maine’s bygone sardine industry.”
Construction of a new museum will help ensure the mill is preserved as a historical, cultural and educational asset.
“We recognize the significance of this project to the future of Eastport and Washington County, not only in terms of its historical value but also as one of Downeast Maine’s most prominent tourist attractions and an important economic driver in the community,” said Tony McKim, the bank’s CEO.
In recognition of the bank’s early support for the project, a prominent feature of the new building will be named in its honor.
“We are delighted that the Seed Room will bear the name of First National Bank,” said Karen and Kevin Raye, the mill's fourth-generation owners and who incorporated the museum in 2018. “It is fitting that the First’s donation of seed money for the project will be acknowledged in this way.”
Viewable through a plate glass window, the room will house a seed machine — a critical device used throughout the mill’s existence to clean mustard seed and winnow out the chaff.
Building donation
The bank's contribution follows a gift in December of another building in Eastport.
With an appraised value of $157,000, the property at 74 Key St. became the lead gift in the museum’s capital campaign. The gift was made by the heirs of the Hutchins family, longtime owners of the Dead River Co.
Like Raye’s Mustard Mill, Dead River has a long history in Eastport and Washington County.
The Hutchins heirs said the gift was made by the Benton, McCollum and DiNapoli families. The Hutchins family gave special recognition to the late Hilda Hutchins McCollum and her long friendship with the Rayes. The gift was made through the family’s real estate company, DRC Holdings.
Working museum
Raye's Mustard Mill was built in 1903 to supply mustard to the two dozen or so sardine canneries in Eastport and countless others along the coast of Maine.
But a structural engineer’s review confirmed that the structure was in need of restoration and preservation, according to the museum’s website.
At an estimated cost of $2 million, the renovation and new construction would enhance the museum and provide visitors with education on the history and process of traditional stone-ground mustard-making.
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Great news for Raye's mill and for Eastport. Good to retain the history of the City.
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