The Sabbathday Lake herb house, supported by a mix of concrete and 200-year-old granite stones. The completion of the project is likely to be delayed due to uncertainty about access to federal funds. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village has faced significant setbacks in their years-long herb house program, owing to the ongoing uncertainty around the Trump administration’s proposed federal grant freeze.

According to village Director Michael Graham, the village’s ability to access their $750,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, originally awarded in 2022, has shifted wildly over the past few weeks. Initially, the grant was frozen on Jan. 28 as part of the wider federal funding freeze, but after the memo ordering the freeze was withdrawn, access was restored the following day. Despite this, as of Tuesday, Feb. 11, the village was once again unable to access their funds.

The sudden shifts in federal policy and lack of clarity around them have left the project in an uncertain financial situation. Graham noted that because this is an open grant, to even be told that their request for disbursement is rejected is deeply unsettling, and has left the village wondering what to do. If the grant ends up being permanently rescinded, he said, the project could lose upwards of $200,000, creating a budgetary shortfall, and he has told their general contractor about how funding streams may be cut off and they might lose future funding opportunities.

Graham noted how the impact of the project extended far beyond just the Shaker Village. Characterizing the grant as an investment in Maine’s future, he explained that all of the materials used in the project are locally sourced, and the project has already created dozens of jobs. Once the Herb House Cultural Center is completed, it will serve as not just a museum, but a community and learning center for students, artists, craftspeople and farmers from all across the state.

The foundation of the herb house has seen significant progress since the building was lowered in December. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

Graham said that the village still has a couple hundred thousand dollars to collect through their matching grant program. The grant is matched at 4:1, requiring the village to raise $3 million to release the money, of which $2 million has been raised thus far.

When asked about the option of using state funding or public philanthropy as backup options, Graham noted that in Maine, state-level grants for projects such as the herb house were capped at around $10,000, far below the amount of money an equivalent federal grant would provide. Regarding philanthropy and public donations, Graham said that the former was challenging because many foundations avoid funding brick-and-mortar costs, which would be critical for the project’s ambitious plans for modernized classrooms.

Although thousands of individual donors have already contributed to the project, bringing the village a “great deal of joy and gratitude,” Graham feared that with the widespread economic uncertainty people would be more reluctant to give money to the project.

“So many things are changing so quickly with sweeping impact,” said Graham, “that the concern is that philanthropy might suffer.”

With funding uncertain, Graham said it’s likely that the timeline for the herb house’s completion, originally slated for 2026, would be extended. He described the extension as a “mixed bag,” noting that, while extending the timeline would give them more opportunity to mobilize talent, delays in construction mean that it would cost more to complete the project as time goes on, and they might face higher labor and material costs from the after-effects of federal policies such as tariffs.

Despite the significant roadblocks faced by the herb house project, Graham said that the village and its supporters are determined to see it through to completion. He said that the village is currently working with the NEH and Maine’s congressional delegation toward a solution, noting that the former has managed to get a message through, and they are optimistic that this current suspension will only be temporary.

“We’re trusting the NEH, we’re trusting our congressional leaders to be our advocates and help us achieve these positive goals and outcomes,” said Graham.

The herb house’s interior has been fully cleaned out after decades of use as a storage space. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

Even with the recent funding hurdles, construction on the herb house has progressed significantly since the building was lowered to its current foundation in December. The foundation has been reinforced with 200-year-old granite stones, which, affixed to more modern concrete stones, will help support the building for decades to come. The interior of the house, which for almost a century served as a storage area, was also emptying out, allowing for future work to modernize and restore it. Crews from Preservation Timber Framing are also actively repairing the historic timber frame.

All of the work will be centered around exact replacement or repair of existing materials, Graham said, so that the end result is true to how the Shakers have always maintained their structures. In the weeks ahead, a replica woodshed will be reconstructed on the back of the building, which will serve as a community gathering room once the renovation is completed.

Meanwhile, crews will begin removing damaged plaster from inside the building in preparation to insulate and install utilities such as electrical and plumbing, then restore the plaster walls throughout the building.

With funding still uncertain, Graham said that the village is figuring how far into the project they can get before they face shortages.

“There’s been a bunch of bumps along the way, but we’re making progress,” said Michael Mason, a carpenter with Preservation Timber Framing, of the project.