When Brooklinites travel north on Route 175, they come to a sharp curve at High Street and see this scene on the right:
It’s memorable for three reasons. First, architecturally, the larger structure is a classic New England connected farmhouse that is over 100 years old.
Second, historically, the place has a local and perhaps national heritage. Locally, the house apparently was first owned by Mattie L. and Erastus J. Candage, shown with their large family in this old image:
It was sold (apparently before 1918 when Erastus died) to Edna and Howard Pervear, and Edna ran the North Brooklin Post Office out of a room there for many years.
In 1933 – here comes the national aspect – famous author E.B. White and famous New Yorker editor Katherine White bought a house nearby and used that Post Office to ship and receive manuscripts that became world-famous works.
Third, socio-economically, the house has been abandoned and deteriorating slowly for quite some time. This is not rare in Maine, where restoring such old houses to the point that they can be insured and become mortgage-eligible is too costly for most people. These houses die a bit each day like wounded beasts that refuse to fall down; then, the roof or a wall will finally give in and they’ll tumble down and become indistinguishable jumbles of wood and pipes.
It's a shame, but who can you blame? (Primary image taken in North Brooklin, Maine, on July 12, 2024; undated historic photo from the Brooklin Keeping Society.)