BIDDEFORD — Captain Richard Vines is credited with being the founder and first resident of Biddeford. He and 32 men were sent by Sir Ferdinando Gorges of England to spend a winter in the area, to prove that the winters could be tolerated, according to a treatise on the city’s history.

Vines and his men survived the winter of 1616-17, and a monument commemorating the historic occasion was erected in 1909 by William E. Barry of Kennebunk, according to Christi Mitchell, a historic preservationist with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Now both the Vines monument and six or seven of Barry’s other monuments in York County, commemorating other historic moments and places, are under consideration for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

Monuments aren’t eligible in themselves to be placed on the register, said Mitchell. However, by virtue of being one of a grouping of monuments Barry had erected, and because of Barry’s prominence, Mitchell is optimistic that the Vines monument will make it on the register.

The first step is to win approval by the commission’s board at their meeting in April, she said. If approval is granted, then it can be considered for addition to the register.

The process to get the Vines monument on the register began about one and a half years ago. Mitchell said she was contacted by the Rebecca Emery Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Barry had bequeathed the monument to the organization in his will when he died in 1932.

Barry, said Mitchell, was a prominent architect, artist and historian in the area.

He commissioned these monuments “so these moments in history would not be lost,” said Mitchell.

Around 1876, in reaction to immigration and industrialization, “There was increasing interest in colonial times,” she said.

The period was romanticized as a simpler time, said Mitchell. This was illustrated in a variety of ways, she said, such as through the colonial revival style of architecture and the fascination with colonial furniture and literature.

Historic preservation was also started at this time, she said.

The Vines monument is important, she said, because of its connection with Barry and his historical importance as a preservationist of the period in which he lived.

For Rebecca Emery DAR Regent and Kennebunk resident Janelle Anderson, getting the Vines monument on the register is important for its own sake and future preservation.

The monument, located at 58 Bridge Road in Biddeford Pool, is easy to miss, said Anderson. It’s on a tiny plot next to a gray home.

It is made up of a large piece of granite with a bronze plaque depicting Vines and his men in a forest during their first winter in Biddeford.

The plaque states that Vines was an agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and he was sent to the area to experience and report on the climate. Because of its proximity to the home it is next to, said Anderson, some have wanted to move the monument. It cannot be moved, she said, as it was stipulated in Barry’s will that it must remain where it is.

Barry believed the monument stands where Vines’ doorway stood, she said.

After leaving the area, Vines returned to Biddeford in 1630, built a home and lived there for 15 years.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to prove Vines was actually there (where the monument is located),” said Anderson.

Barry conducted research regarding Vines in Europe, she said, prior to erecting the monument. Although much of Barry’s work has been preserved at the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk, documents regarding where Vines’ home stood weren’t found, she said.

According to “A History and Stories of Biddeford,” by historian Dane Yorke, Vines leased the land on which Biddeford stands, from Gorges. Gorges owned Maine, prior to it being sold to Massachusetts by his grandson, according to Yorke’s treatise.

Peggy Dunlap, historian of the Rebecca Emery DAR, did most of the research on the monument and Barry. She said she found seven monuments that Barry had erected.

However, she said, it’s unclear if Barry did the physical work constructing the monuments or just designed them and commissioned others to build them.

Other places Barry erected monuments, said Dunlap, include the first Meeting House and the first house constructed in Wells.

Barry’s work “was his way of trying to mark these periods of time” of Maine’s history, she said.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.