PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 16, 2024
President Biden’s designation Monday of the Francis Perkins National Monument in Newcastle is expected to generate new interest among visitors to the Midcoast region who want to learn more about the first woman to become a Cabinet member. As secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), Perkins was instrumental in establishing programs as part of the New Deal package that pulled the nation out of the Great Depression. The Frances Perkins National Monument is one of only a dozen or so that are dedicated to women’s history. Locals say that will attract new interest to the region as well. The home is the second site in Maine to become a national monument. Former President Barack Obama designated over 87,600 acres of forestland in the North Woods as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in 2016.