Criterion A: Commerce
Criterion A: Social History
Period of Significance: ca. 1885 to 1940
Local Level of Significance
The ca. 1885 Old Red Store in the Village of Bernard in the Town of Tremont, Hancock County, Maine is an intact small-town grocery store that also served as post office and social gathering place. Originally housing the T.W. Jackson Market, the building was maintained in the same family as a store for fifty years. For sixty years, a part of that time overlapping the store use, the building was the Bernard post office with the same family serving as post masters. Additional businesses operated out of the store in the early to mid-20th century. A barber shop, pool room, and radio shop added to the store's commercial offerings and provided social space. The Old Red Store is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as the local level of significance under Criterion A, Social History and Commerce, in recognition of its long-standing importance as a central point within the community whether as store, post office, or local gathering place. The period of significance begins with its use as a store ca. 1885 and continues up to 1940. The building was restored to its pre-1940 appearance recently and as a result does not have integrity to the post-1940 period.