Preserve the Frances Perkins Homestead as a National Park Site

Perkins was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, and she fought for working people and served as a driving force behind the New Deal. As Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, she formulated policies and programs that bolstered the economy and helped working people across the country.

Frances Perkins, head shot (vertical)

Former Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, circa 1911.

Courtesy of the Frances Perkins Center

The protections Perkins secured for American workers are cornerstones of our society today, including social security, minimum wage, unemployment insurance and a ban on child labor. She became one of President Roosevelt’s closest and most highly regarded advisors at a time when this leadership was desperately needed.

Among her many accomplishments, Perkins also helped Jewish children immigrate to the United States during the Holocaust, and she oversaw part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, helping to put unemployed Americans back to work during the Depression.

NPCA strongly supports the campaign to designate a national park site honoring Frances Perkins at her ancestral homestead, a wooded 57-acre farm along the Damariscotta River in Newcastle, Maine.

The Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark is the only place dedicated to telling the full story of this remarkable national icon. The nonprofit Frances Perkins Center purchased the homestead in 2020, which includes more than 50 acres of property. The site is in great condition, thanks to recent repairs funded by private donors and grants.

The Frances Perkins Center stands ready to donate this homestead to the National Park Service to ensure the site is preserved as part of our nation’s history.

NPCA joins the Frances Perkins Center in calling on President Joe Biden to designate the Frances Perkins Homestead site as a national monument so the National Park Service can interpret her legacy in perpetuity.