By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Last week, Cumberland resident Jen Johnston spent the better part of a sunny afternoon walking around what remains of Goddard Mansion in Cape Elizabeth’s Fort Williams Park.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said while standing in the one time foyer of the hollowed-out building. 

Johnston’s thoughts were echoed by Kents Hill resident Emily Fontain a few minutes later. Fontain, who brought her 7-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son to see the mansion, said she could remember a time when people were able to walk into the structure; since 2004 entry has been forbidden by “Danger – Falling Rocks” signs. 

“The whole fenced-off thing is kind of new to me,” she said. 

When it comes to the future of the building – now riddled with cracks and boulders precariously held in place with decaying mortar – both visitors said “it would be a shame” to let the mansion continue to deteriorate. 

“It would be cool to rebuild it,” Johnston said. “But then, I hate seeing those museums where they’ve renovated so much it’s perfect.”

Fort Williams Advisory Commission Chairman Dan Chase said he hopes the group’s proposal will not only retain the history of the building, but save taxpayers some money.

“Our funding, what little there is, comes from the use fees for weddings and professional photographers and people who put quarters in the binoculars,” Chase said. “Right now there just isn’t money coming from anywhere.” 

Chase said the committee is recommending the town install new fences to keep the public away from the exterior walls of the old carriage house and the building that connects it to the main structure, for fear more stones may begin to fall in the near future. Chase said the fence would keep visitors a safe distance away from the base of the walls and cordon off a small ledge beside the building.

The cost of erecting a new fence is dramatically less than a $650,000 estimate to stabilize the building as it currently stands, Chase said. 

“That [$650,000 estimate] is to maintain it as a ruin, stabilize it inside with some steel framing,” he said. “We’ve never really looked at totally rebuilding it. It would cost – who knows – it would be huge.”

In addition to the immediate need for additional barriers, Chase said the committee discussed a long-term goal for the mansion. Rather than focus on keeping the walls intact, Chase said the mansion may be better memorialized by taking them down once they become a significant safety risk. 

“We would leave the walls at a sitting height, so people could sit and walk on them, maybe have some gardens,” he said. “We’d of course have signs and photos of what used to be, to provide indicators as to what the floor plan was.”

Chase said one wall that would remain standing is the façade of the main foyer, which would need substantial reinforcement to guarantee visitors’ safety. 

“Hopefully we could retain some of the original stonework,” Chase said of the foyer.

In total, Chase said it could cost $100,000 to lower the walls of the mansion. He said money could be acquired through fundraising, but worried about unintentional impacts that could have on other attractions at the park such as the Battery Keyes buildings.

“My fear is that it will pull funding away from other places in the park,” he said. “There are lots of other things, at least to me, that are much more important.” 

On Monday the council set a public hearing for the issue to be held Sept. 14.

   Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.