SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — After nearly 150 years in the view of bystanders, the fishing shacks that stick out on a peninsula at Willard Beach in South Portland were destroyed by a powerful storm surge that hit most of coastal Maine.
The two shacks, used for around 100 of those years for fishermen, spent the last 50 as historical sights. People would snap photos with them and sometimes paint them over the years, according to South Portland Historical Society's Kathy DiPhilippo.
"They still have 50 years of not being used as fishing shacks... proposals and weddings and graduation photos," DiPhilippo said.
So when the shacks came crashing down, it was only fitting there was an audience of Mainers capturing their destruction on video.
"Obviously we weren't hoping for this to happen," DiPhilippo said. "You can't prepare your feelings when it happens... it was devastating to see the photographs and the videos people took."
Shortly afterward, donations started coming in. DiPhilippo said more than $3,000 has poured in just the last couple of days.
"There is still a long process to go through... this is going to be up to the city," She said.
While the donations continue to come through, DiPhilippo said they are looking through models of the shacks made just two years ago. She said it would be up to the South Portland City Council and potentially the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to deem it worth reconstructing.
"When I come down here since they've been gone you come down to the beach and you have a feeling of loss and sadness, it doesn't look the same... you could not rebuild and just keep feeling that loss, or you can rebuild and feel so happy that they are here again," DiPhilippo said.