Giovanna Gray Lockhart, the executive director at the Frances Perkins Center, walks toward the home in Newcastle in July. It recently became the second national monument in Maine.  Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

President Biden’s designation Monday of the Francis Perkins National Monument in Newcastle is expected to generate new interest among visitors to the Midcoast region who want to learn more about the first woman to become a Cabinet member.

As secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Perkins was instrumental in establishing Social Security, a minimum wage, a 40-hour work week and child labor laws as part of the New Deal package that pulled the nation out of the Great Depression. She held this role from 1933-1945.

Perkins came to rest and refuel at the 1750s family homestead on 57 acres along the Damariscotta River throughout her years as one of America’s foremost advocates for workers’ rights, economic security and social justice.

Those values are reflected in the Midcoast region’s business community, said Melissa Palmer-Karas, a member of the local chamber of commerce who is a buyer for the Renys department store chain, which is headquartered in town.

“We’re a gritty, hardworking community and we support each other,” she said. “Any time Frances Perkins and the Midcoast region are recognized, it just draws more national attention, which is good. Anytime a woman is recognized for her accomplishments is good.”

While the Frances Perkins National Monument is the 433rd national park site, it is one of only a dozen or so that are dedicated to women or women’s history. Locals say that will attract new interest to the region as well.

“I think we’ll see a different kind of tourist,” said Heather D’Ippolito, a chamber member who is development director at Lincoln Academy, a private boarding school in Newcastle that’s also the local high school.

“It’s a totally different angle from the usual interest in oysters and lobsters and the natural beauty of the area,” she said. “It’s fitting to have her work recognized in our little corner of the world.”

Former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins chats with reporters in New York on Nov. 27, 1945, as she arrives from Europe aboard the Queen Mary, after she headed the American Government’s delegation to the International Labor Organization conference in Paris. Harry Harris/Associated Press, file

The home is the second site in Maine to become a national monument. Former President Barack Obama designated over 87,600 acres of forestland in the North Woods as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in 2016.

While her parents were from Maine, Perkins was born in Boston and grew up largely in Worcester, Massachusetts. She spent most of her professional life in New York and Washington, D.C., but she returned often to the farm and homestead in Newcastle. She owned the house from 1927 until her death in 1965 at age 85 and she was buried in Newcastle.

The homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014 and has been run by the nonprofit Frances Perkins Center since 2020, when the organization purchased the property. From now on, the site will be managed by the National Park Service.

The center includes an 1837 brick house, farm buildings, woodlands, fields and hiking trails. It has already increased interest in the area, including visitors who have stayed at the 13-room Newcastle Inn, also located on River Road.

“Even without the national monument designation, we’ve already seen people coming through, interested in visiting the center,” said Liz Cooke, the inn’s co-owner. “With our guests, the top two questions are where can we get the best oysters and where can we go hiking. Lately we’ve been directing them to check out the trails at the center.”

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree attended the designation ceremony Monday at the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C., headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor, where President Biden called Perkins “one of America’s greatest labor leaders.”

Pingree, who urged the president to approve the designation, described Perkins was a trailblazer whose legacy continues to transform the nation and taps growing interest in women’s history and labor issues.

“I think there’s an appeal for a lot of people because it’s a wonderful slice of Maine history, and this is the place she came to recharge,” Pingree said after the ceremony. “Many Mainers don’t know about the contributions that Frances Perkins made and visiting the center is a much better way to learn about her.”

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said in a statement that the designation “ensures that the legacy of a truly remarkable Maine leader is preserved for generations to come.”

Cynthia Phinney, the first woman elected president of the Maine AFL-CIO, also attended the designation ceremony Monday.

Maine AFL-CIO president Cynthia Phinney, center, watches as President Biden formalizes the designation of the Frances Perkins National Monument on Monday. Courtesy of Maine AFL-CIO

In her statement at the event, Phinney recalled how Perkins saw a watershed workplace tragedy in New York City in 1911 that killed 146 garment workers, making it the deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history.

“From the moment when she witnessed the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, she doggedly pursued change not only to protect workers, but to create and implement policies that supported thriving, full lives,” Phinney said. “I especially appreciate that she considered Maine a home, and it matters that we have leaders today who carry forward her work.”

Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, Perkins’ grandson, said his grandmother “made the world a better place, and she learned the values that guided her life at our family’s homestead in Newcastle.”

Giovanna Gray Lockhart, executive director of the center, said the designation will allow more people to learn about Perkins’ work. The center will retain ownership of enough land to allow construction of an educational facility on the property.

“Future generations will be inspired by her steadfastness, intelligence and courage,” Lockhart said in a statement. “This is a proud moment for Maine and the millions of working people in our country.”