Pamela Cummings, the president of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian, at the Abyssinian Meeting House on Nov. 22. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Restoration of the historic Abyssinian Meeting House will resume early next year, thanks to a $1.7 million federal appropriation received in early 2022 that was intended to finish a project started more than 25 years ago.

But after nearly three years of planning, designing and getting permits to complete the preservation project in Portland’s East End, the cost has increased to $2.6 million and will require additional fundraising by volunteers.

The Housing and Urban Development appropriation came at an opportune time, after Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 rallied interest in finally completing the restoration project and brought in $400,000 in donations.

“That was the shot in the arm we needed,” said Pamela Cummings, president of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian, a group of volunteers that has worked to restore the 196-year-old former Black church for nearly three decades.

But the grant heightened federal, state and municipal scrutiny of a project that’s been done piecemeal as fundraising allowed, from shoring up the stone foundation to refurbishing the post-and-beam roof supports.

The final phase now calls for building a two-story, 1,000-square-foot addition to the rear of the Abyssinian that will house a stairwell, elevator and two bathrooms on each floor that meet current building and safety codes.

The upgrades will allow the building to be used as a community center suitable for historical exhibits, educational programs and other public events. The project recently got necessary historic preservation and building permits from the city.

“The project had been designed but never fully permitted, so we had to meet current codes,” said project engineer Eric Dube, a principal of Trillium Engineering Group in Yarmouth.

The Abyssinian Meeting House. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Construction will start after the committee hires a contractor and finalizes other project requirements, likely in the first quarter of 2025, Dube said.

After paying contractors and other expenses, the committee has $200,000 left from Black Lives Matter donations, Cumming said. It will soon launch a campaign to raise $700,000 in additional donations and grants to fill the gap between the $1.7 million federal appropriation and the $2.6 million estimated final cost.

“We’re still here, we’re still working hard and we’re thankful to the community for supporting us,” Cumming said. “Now, we can finally see the end.”

Built in 1828, the Abyssinian is the nation’s third-oldest meetinghouse constructed by an African-American congregation, after churches in Boston and Nantucket.

The Cummings family, headed by Pam Cummings’ father, Leonard, has led the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian since the city sold the boarded-up, fire-damaged, tax-delinquent building to the restoration group for $250 in 1998.

Pamela Cummings, the president of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian, at the Abyssinian Meeting House. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as a northern hub of the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement. In 2013, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Abyssinian as one of the most endangered historic places in the United States.

In 1826, six free Black men – Reuben Ruby, Caleb Jonson, Clemant Tomson, Job Wentworth, Christopher Manuel and John Sigs – published a letter in a Portland newspaper announcing their plan to build a church for the Black community. They said they no longer wanted to be relegated to the balconies and back pews of Portland’s white houses of worship.

“Pardon our misapprehensions, if they be such,” the men wrote, “(but) we have sometimes thought our attendance was not desired.”

The Abyssinian thrived through the 1800s as the religious, educational and cultural heart of Portland’s Black community. But church membership suffered after a terrible storm sank the SS Portland during a return trip from Boston in 1898.

At least 194 people died when the steamship went down, including 19 crew members who attended the Abyssinian. Two of them were church trustees. The congregation never recovered, and the church eventually closed. It was sold and converted into a tenement that was pretty much uninhabitable by the time the restoration committee acquired it.

The ground floor of the Abyssinian Meeting House. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Previous improvements included demolishing apartments that were built within the former church and replacing siding, roofing, windows and doors with historically accurate materials and designs.

SMRT Architects & Engineers of Portland is one of the latest firms to provide services free of charge, including updated architect’s renderings and a virtual tour of the building.

It was meaningful work for Jessica Johnson, an associate principal at SMRT.

“It has so much history,” Johnson said. “And I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know where the Abyssinian was, and it’s just a couple blocks from us.”

Committee members still hope to complete the restoration before the Abyssinian’s 200th anniversary in 2028. They also hope community members who have supported the project in the past will help again.

“We’ve been blessed,” said Deborah Khadraoui, founder and member of the restoration committee. “I’m a woman of faith, and we couldn’t have done any of this without being blessed.”