Remembering the boys of Maine's 5th and 8th: On Peaks Island near Portland, you can visit their summer retreats, spend the night at one

Guests can rent rooms at the 8th Maine lodge and museum

... where veterans met more than a century ago (8th Maine OL&M)

Striking windows at the 5th Maine Regiment Museum (Picket)

From wrap-around porches or chairs perched on back lawns, the graying veterans of two Maine infantry regiments could see or hear all manner of water craft plying Casco Bay.

There were the lobstermen, or couples out for a leisurely sail. During the summer, ferries brought throngs of passengers who might stay the week on Peaks Island, just a few miles east of Portland.

In the late 19^th and early 20^th century, Peaks Island was a draw, too, for a number of Civil War veterans, who would enjoy clam bakes, suppers and poetry readings with their families. They built clapboard retreats, two of which survive – the 5^th Maine Regiment Museum (1888) and 8th Maine Oceanfront Lodge & Museum (1891).

While they enjoyed the natural beauty and the island’s many attractions, including the Gem Theatre, gardens and a Ferris wheel (Peaks was called the Coney Island of Maine), these men mostly came to spend time with their comrades – those who understood what they had endured.

Gem Theatre and one of many piers on the island (Maine Historical Society)

They would reminisce about the bloodbaths at Drewry’s Bluff, Antietam, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor or the Wilderness. Some, no doubt, suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Today, visitors to Peaks Island can stop by both Queen Anne-style sanctuaries, which feature three-story observation towers that rise like sentinels.

Relic at the 5th Maine

The 5^th Maine Museum is operated by a nonprofit group that showcases the unit’s history, relics and other prize possessions. The building also serves as an island community and cultural center, offering music, art and photography shows and exhibits on other facets of the island’s past.

While the 5^th Maine association counts a few descendants, the 8^th Maine, just 100 yards away, is operated by lineal descendants, a situation it calls unique.

Visitors to the island can delve into the regiment’s history and rent rustic rooms that -- while lacking air conditioning and television sets – offer coziness and simplicity during the tourist season, which lasts generally from Memorial Day into September.

“What we tell people who have never been here before … I want you to understand when you step over the threshold you are stepping back to 1900,” says Bill Hackett, 8^th Maine lodge manager and descendant of Sgt. Lorenzo W. Hackett.

5th Maine veterans, families in 1912 (5th Maine Regiment Museum)

A docent provides a tour of the 5th Maine main hall (Picket photo)

5^th Maine Regiment Museum

Known as the Forest City Regiment, the 5^th had three companies from Portland and served in 22 battles, from First Manassas to Petersburg, mustering out in July 1864.

“The Fifth was known as one of Maine’s fighting regiments,” says the museum’s website. “It captured more prisoners than the number of men who served in the regiment and three times the number of battle flags than any other Maine regiment captured.”

5th Maine front yard (Picket photo)

The veterans began holding reunions elsewhere shortly after war’s end and participants would stay in tents. A perhaps apocryphal story holds that wives and children became tired of camping and demanded a building, says museum curator Holly Hurd-Forsyth.

“Some were farmers, businessmen and Bowdoin graduates,” she said of the veterans. “There must have been some means and motivation. Building a permanent structure was a pretty rare thing to do.”

The 5^th Maine Regiment Memorial Hall held its first reunion on July 4, 1888, and the meetings continued until 1940 (By then, most of the soldiers had died and activities were organized by descendants). The annual reunions had a military air, with rules and regulations.

The regiment formed a memorial association, required dues and members rented 15 “sleeping rooms”; proceeds went for maintenance and operations. A cot might go for 50 cents a night. The room at the top of tower went for $9 a week.

Picket photo of porch overlooking Casco Bay

Windows in the main hall remain the building’s most striking feature. My wife and I visited this summer, and gazed upon the hand-blown flash glass engraved with the names of soldiers serving in the unit. The purchase of the windows was another way the men funded the lodge’s upkeep.

The Sixth Corps’ red-cross insignia is painted above the doors. The hall includes memorabilia and relics from battlefields in the South.

An upstairs view (Picket photo)

The hall went through some challenges as soldiers died and descendants increasingly jumped into cars -- rather than a ferry -- and vacationed elsewhere. The association began renting out rooms. “Their families didn’t have the strong ties they used to. Peaks Island itself was not as much as a destination,” said Hurd-Forsyth.

Fires during the 1930s destroyed many vacation properties and venues on the island. The room rentals at the 5^th Maine ended in 1947.

The all-volunteer 5^th Maine Regiment Community Association has operated the building since 1954 and rents out space, including its downstairs dining room. Programming includes Civil War talks, and musical and arts programs. Keeping up the grounds and building are priorities, and the museum hopes to repair and reopen the observation tower.

Dining area downstairs (5th Maine)

Peaks Island is a popular day trip for Portland visitors and about 900 residents live there year-round, embracing the isolation brought by winter. More than 5,100 people visited the museum during last year’s season. The venue will close this year on Columbus Day, Oct. 8.

David Johnston, who lives in New Hampshire and has a place on the island, can often be seen at the 5^th Maine Museum.

“Having salt in my veins, I go there all the time on the weekends and volunteer at the pancake breakfast,” he told the Picket. “(Other breakfast volunteers) think it is really cool that I have blood ties to the establishment.”

Lt. Dexter

His great-great-grandfather, Lt. Charles B. Dexter, served in Company A and was active after the war in the Grand Army of the Republic. Dexter died in Norwood, Mass, in 1914, at age 76.

Memorial hall includes a photograph of Dexter and other 5^th Maine veterans.

“They volunteered. It wasn’t a draft. It is standing up and believing in what you think is the right choice,” said Johnston.

8^th Maine Oceanfront Lodge & Museum

Old-timey living is alive and encouraged at the lodge, which rents rooms to the public from mid-June into September. Along with their stay, guests can learn about the rich history of the Maine regiment.

The rentals cover much of the maintenance for the old building – replacing the roof, for example, may cost $70,000. Guests share bathrooms, jigsaw puzzles, ping pong table and other amenities. Rates for the 14 rooms start at $109 an evening. There are no TVs sets or AC, but fans help on the warmest days.

A $129 a night room with a view (8th Maine OL&M photos)

And a dining area below the main floor

“Yes, we do have Wi-Fi. We couldn’t survive without it,” says Dawn Hackett, guest host and wife of Bill Hackett. The couple lives in York, Maine, during the offseason.

The communal spirit at the Peaks Island lodge extends to dining downstairs. Every table has a two-burner gas cook top.

“Traditionally, the 8th Maine veterans, when they stayed at the lodge would always share meals. After each meal, each soldier family would reset their table,” says the museum’s website. “The message to each other was clear and emotional; we will be back and we will not forget. The 8th Maine staff encourages all its guests to continue that practice if they cook or use our dishes.”

8th veterans swap stories back in the day 

Of course, the descendants association stresses the regiment’s history and sacrifice made by its members. A large, open hall showcases that and the building includes artifacts and a library. Participants in a daily tour will see emblems for the 18^th and 24^th Corps, under which the 8^th Maine boys served.

Most of the men who enlisted in the regiment were from upstate. The unit drew from Aroostook and Piscataquis counties and Penobscot. “Anything north of Bangor is Canada,” quipped Bill Hackett.

The 8^th served in the Carolinas, Georgia (Fort Pulaski) and at Petersburg and Cold Harbor in Virginia, among other campaigns and battles.

Courtesy of 8th Maine OL&M

Although the regimental association goes back to 1871, its big boost came after Col. William M. MacArthur won $75,000 in the 1885 Louisiana State Lottery. He used some of the winnings to buy property on Peaks Island and build the 8^th Maine memorial lodge, which opened in 1891 as a regimental meeting place and vacation spot.

“It was quite the scam, but someone did benefit – the 8^th Maine,” Dawn Hackett says of the lottery.

Lorenzo Hackett

Sgt. Lorenzo W. Hackett was one of five brothers to serve in the Civil War.

“Lorenzo was a color bearer. That puts him up right and center in his company wherever they went,” said Bill Hackett. “He never got shot in the entire war. He got hit in the backpack with a Minie ball that spun him around.”

The soldier was taken prisoner and was exchanged later in the war.

For years, the veterans of the 8^th Maine slept on the floor in the main hall, or elsewhere in the building. As they died off, the association began renting rooms to the public in the mid-1920s.

Today, the descendants group – which allows members to join at age 16 – holds an annual reunion in June. The association also welcomes birthday parties, weddings and other community events. The last nights for guests this year is Sept. 22.

Relics in the great hall (8th Maine OL&M)

Belfast Historical Society via Maine Memory Network

The lodge wants guests to enjoy the veranda and everything inside, including the Civil War history. A recent review on TripAdvisor captured the appeal, at least for some.

“On the water, with a killer balcony to read, write or take in the salt air. The lodge is an old time-y wood lodge that yanked me back to my childhood in Maine. If you need all the high end comforts or a lot of TLC give this place a miss. If you want to dial down the stress and enjoy life before it went off the rails....you can't go wrong.”