An artist’s impression of the Tekαkαpimək contact station on Lookout Mountain in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Courtesy of Saunders Architecture and Mir

The opening of a visitor center at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument has been delayed as contractors and others put the finishing touches on exhibits and other facilities.

The Tekαkαpimək contact station, which was scheduled to open in late August, is now scheduled to be fully opened in the fall, but visitors can take a first look inside this weekend.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is expected to join federal and state officials, as well as members of the Wabanaki community and other communities, in a ceremonial opening ceremony at the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station in Stacyville, north of Millinocket, on Saturday morning.

After that, visitors can stop by on Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors must register in advance this weekend through the Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters website.

Nestled in the woods on a hill near Baxter State Park, the Welcome Center is filled with Wabanaki artistry, history and cultural information and is designed to provide visitors with an in-depth introduction to the monument.

The center is nearly complete, except for a list of things that need to be done before it is transferred from the Friends to the National Park Service. The federal agency will operate Tekαkαpimək, pronounced “de gah-gah bee mook,” which means “as far as the eye can see” in the Penobscot language.

“We are excited to see how visitors interact with and learn from the building,” said Brian Hinrichs, executive director of the Friends group, which will remain a philanthropic partner of the center.

“This project has been over five years in the making,” Hinrichs continued. “There is overwhelming gratitude to all the partners and supporters who have brought us here.”

The welcome center was designed in consultation with the Wabanaki, the “People of the First Light.” In addition to the Penobscot Nation, whose ancestral lands include the national monument established in 2016, the Wabanaki also include Maliseet, Mi’kmaq and Passamaquoddy tribes who have lived in the region for thousands of years.

The center is 99 percent complete, Hinrichs said, but some things remain unfinished, including audiovisual displays and a tile floor depicting the Penobscot River that needs to be sealed.

“We hope to have it open to the public in the fall,” he said. A fundraising page for the center says it is expected to open “in the fall of 2024 or spring of 2025.”

Admission to the center is free. Information about the public opening will be posted online by the Friends group and the National Park Service. In the meantime, the property will remain marked as a construction site, Hinrichs said.

Also managed by the Park Service, the 87,000-acre Woods and Waters Monument was donated to the United States by Roxanne Quimby, who founded Burt’s Bees and made a fortune selling it. It includes a 17-mile loop road, trails for hiking, mountain biking and snowmobiling, and paddling access along the East Branch of the Penobscot River.

The privately funded contact station is the focus of a $35 million fundraising campaign, with $10 million coming from the Quimby family and foundations and $1 million from the National Park Foundation.

The campaign still needs to raise about $5 million to complete the project, which includes sustainable, off-grid heating and cooling systems, accessible pathways and access routes, and interpretive exhibits and artwork on Wabanaki culture.

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