Steeped in history, the seaside community of Cape Elizabeth will be turning 250 next year, and to honor the milestone, the town is kicking off a yearlong celebration on Saturday, Nov. 1.
During the next several months, residents and visitors will be encouraged to honor Cape’s past by attending tours of the town’s historical sites, musical performances and other events that are still being planned by the town’s 250th Anniversary Committee.
On Nov. 1, the Inn by the Sea on Bowery Beach Road is holding an open house from 5-8 p.m., to unveil the various activities that will be taking place now through next November. All are welcome to the free event.
According to Carrie Dyer, general manager of the inn and a member of the 250th Anniversary Committee, the kick-off event includes a reception with music, an exhibit by the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society and light hors d’oeuvres.
Preliminary details about a special anniversary concert next July at Fort Williams Park, called “A Night at the Light” featuring the Portland Symphony Orchestra, will be revealed, as well as details about a Pond Cove School multimedia project funded by grants from the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation and the Pond Cove Parents Association.
“We really need to raise the money to pull this off, but the Portland Symphony Orchestra is very excited to be coming back to Fort Williams,” said longtime resident and chairwoman of the anniversary committee, Barbara Powers. A portion of the proceeds from the seaside concert will be earmarked for the children’s garden project at Fort Williams Park, she said.
Other events being planned for the 250th celebration include bus tours of the southern and northern portions of town, presentations by local and state historians, children’s activities and more.
Powers said, with the help of a grant, two local artists are set to lead a “Local Stories Project” next spring at Pond Cove School that includes a theater performance of Cape’s history and the creation of a mural showing important historic sites, which will be permanently displayed inside the school.
According to Dyer, the Inn by the Sea has been a part of the Cape Elizabeth community for 85 years, and many of its employees are Cape residents. To end the yearlong celebration, she said, the plan is to hold a ticketed gala event on Nov. 1, 2015, at the inn.
Dyer, a Brunswick resident who has worked in Cape Elizabeth for about 10 years, said, “it’s a quaint little coastal town, and it has a lot of opportunities for businesses and education. I fell in love with this place. There is just something about it.
“It’s my home away from home,” Dyer added.
Though not all of the events have been set in stone, “This event on (Nov. 1) is to get people interested and to see what we are planning,” she said.
“There are so many great stories about this town,” said Dyer. “It’s a great opportunity for residents to get together and chat with fellow residents and share those stories about family histories, and potentially connect with people. It’s not every day that you get to celebrate a town that has been around for this long.”
A slice of Cape history
From Cape Elizabeth’s early years, beginning with the Indians as the first inhabitants, to schools, to houses, churches, Fort Williams and more, the town is filled with history, according to Powers.
Until 1765 the town was originally a part of Portland, which was called Falmouth, according to lifelong resident Norm Jordan, a 10th generation member of the Jordan family and a member of the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society.
Named after Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, Cape Elizabeth was established as a town on Nov. 1, 1765. A town hall was built by William Murray and dedicated June 18, 1901, six years after Cape Elizabeth separated from South Portland.
“Part of it was that they didn’t want to send money across the river for education. They wanted their own school here and their own parish here,” Powers said. At the time, the second story of the building housed the high school, where the first class graduated in 1905.
“It was used as a school up until the 1970s,” said Powers, whose interest in Cape’s history goes back to her experience as a third-grade teacher in Cape Elizabeth when local history was a curriculum focus.
“I was amazed by all that was happening in this area pre-Revolution and into the late 1700s in particular,” said Powers. “I thought helping our community celebrate this important milestone was definitely worth my time.”
The oldest public building in Cape Elizabeth is the Spurwink Church, built in 1802. The structure, which has been renovated several times through the year is now called the Spurwink Meeting House. Today, townspeople still use the church for private memorial services, weddings, christenings and other events. According to Powers, the former church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“In 1834, (the town) completely stripped it down to its bare bones and rebuilt it, and added the steeple,” said Jordan. “My great, great grandfather was one of the builders of the original church.”
Another building that has had a long history in Cape Elizabeth is Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park, which helped early mariners navigate Cape’s rocky shores leading into Portland Harbor.
According to “Cape Elizabeth, Past to Present,” a 2013 publication of the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society, “Two masons from Portland, Jonathan Bryant and John Nichol were charged to complete the structure in four years’ time, and in 1790 a 57-foot tower stood as ordered. On Jan. 10, 1791, the whale oil lamps were lit for the first time.”
“Today, the tower stands 101 feet above sea level, rotating its flashing and powerful white lights every four seconds and visible for 24 miles. A fog horn, which replaced the bell sounds its melancholy tone every 15 seconds.”
As part of the yearlong celebration, Powers said that the 250th Anniversary Committee plans to have docent-led discussions at eight to 10 historic sites around Cape Elizabeth in early October 2015.
“Not many of us know about the community we grew up in and are living in,” said Catherine Adams, a member of the committee who has lived in Cape Elizabeth for nearly 30 years. “It’s a way to learn about what it is we love (about Cape Elizabeth).”
A CLOSER LOOK
The Cape Elizabeth 250th Anniversary Committee is unveiling its plans for celebrating the town’s historic past at the Inn by the Sea on Bowery Beach Road on Saturday, Nov. 1, from 5-8 p.m. All are welcome.
A few of Cape’s 250th Anniversary Committee members, from left, Barbara Powers, Norm Jordan, Jane Beckwith and Catherine Adams, kneel behind a plaque at the Spurwink Meeting House, formerly the Spurwink Church built in 1802, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
The Spurwink Meeting House, at the corner of Spurwink Avenue and Route 77, is formerly known as Spurwink Church, the oldest public building in Cape Elizabeth, which was built in 1802.
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