Grand Army Hall/Royal Art Lodge, c.1820

6 Green Street, Eastport, Muselenk (Moose Island), Maine.

This two story wooden structure dates to the early 19th century when it was built by descendants of the Shackford family from Massachusett to serve as the vestry space for the Free Will Baptist Society’s Church (now TIMA’s North Church building) located three blocks away. When the story and a half North Church building was raised up in 1881 and a vestry space established within its new ground floor, this original vestry building took on a new life three years later. In February, 1884 the building was dedicated as a meeting hall for the local American Civil War veterans organization, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Meade Post, No. 40. For much of the 20th century, the building served as a meeting hall for a successor veterans organization, the American Legion (Fred Mitchell Post, No. 11).

John (1931-2015) and Alice Seelye purchased the building from the American Legion in 2009. They then donated the building to TIMA in 2014. The first floor of the building currently provides housing for artists in residence, as well as additional studio work space. The second floor is being restored as a “Civil War Memorial Room” and work space. It includes original Civil War / GAR mural wall paintings, that have recently been restored, dating to the post American Civil War period (1884+) when the building served as the Grand Army Hall. The individual restored Civil War mural wall panels can be viewed here: Civil War Mural Panels. The Civil War Memorial Room also contains over 100 area Civil War / GAR historical artifacts. These paintings were uncovered during the restoration of the building by the building’s previous owners John and Alice Seelye. The Grand Army Hall / Royal Art Lodge property includes an adjacent vacant lot.