BANGOR, Maine — Outside the Thomas A. Hill House on Saturday morning, a group gathered to explore Bangor’s past, present, and future as part of Jane’s Walk.
Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of community-led walking conversations in honor of community activist Jane Jacobs, celebrated in hundreds of cities around the world.
The Bangor Historical Society hosted a walking tour of downtown Bangor, featuring some of the city’s most notable buildings and talking about how Jacobs’ ideas of community-driven city building are reflected in the local landscape.
“We love what Bangor is doing to revive the city, and we wanted to be part of that and see the history and how that's being incorporated today,” Rebecca Hudson, who participated in the walk, said.
The tour was led by Matt Bishop, curator and operations manager of the Bangor Historical Society.
“[We are] talking about community, neighborhoods, and their importance when we talk about different sections of cities and towns,” he said.
Participants looked up and down at the architecture of iconic buildings in Bangor, like the Unitarian Church and the Mason House.
“It gives us a great time to also focus on a different point of Bangor and a different neighborhood to really focus on those historic Bangor buildings that you might drive past every day and know absolutely nothing about,” Bishop said.
This includes places like the Bangor YMCA, which was originally a mansion built in the 1840s, and the Bangor House, which used to be a hotel that multiple U.S. presidents visited, before it was turned into apartments.
On the walk, Bishop said they were able to "take the time and look at the small details, and really able to treasure these architectural treasures.”
Rebecca and Michael Hudson, Maine history lovers from Winslow, came to the walk after enjoying a Jane’s Walk in Hallowell last year.
“You have all this important history all around you that you take for granted if you don't just stop and take a pause,” Rebecca said.
Michael said he enjoyed the chance to go off the beaten path and see architecture he wouldn’t notice while driving.
“It's a good history lesson for us,” he said.
Both enjoyed coming together as a community to learn some new things.
“I think it's great that you have people that have so much enjoyment and love where they are and want to share that with their fellow communities, that have the same interests, and I think they should have more of that going on,” Rebecca said.
The Hill House, which is home to the Bangor Historical Society, is under construction but is expected to reopen in June with more events to come.