Displays

Currently At The Museum

The Nash Island light house.

US Coast Guard photo

The current display at the museum examines Genevieve (Jenny) Purington Cirone (Click here to read the talk she gave to the group), whose father, John Purington, was keeper from 1916 to 1935, and grew up on Nash Island and later owned half of the island, as well as Big Nash Island. A facinating look into life on the island and Jenny's thriving sheep that still live on the island.

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Current Artists in the Meeting Room

Throughout the summer, different local artists will be showing their work in the meeting room at the museum.

June	Photographer - Gayla Thorsen from Gouldsboro
July	Photographer/Painter Mark Harrell from Milbridge
August	To be announced

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Milbridge Hall Of Fame

We urge you to contribute pictures and a write-up for the Milbridge Hall of Fame, a notebook about former Milbridge residents who have left their mark in the world. Tell us about the interesting people in your family!

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Future Displays At The Museum

Ideas for exhibits come from many places. Often they center on some artifacts that someone is willing to give or loan to us for a year. Whether we can create an exhibit or not usually depends on the availability of enough materials to make it interesting. Often museum guests will make suggestions. Do you have an idea to share with us about a future exhibit? We would love to hear from you. Send us an e-mail at curator@milbridgehistoricalsociety.org

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Past Displays

The board of Directors of the Milbridge Historical Society is committed to the concept of changing displays at the museum. Each season at least two of the four major display areas are new. This allows us to display more of the artifacts that we own, and also helps us to tell more facets of the story of Milbridge’s history. The two displays that are permanent, with ongoing enhancements, are about shipbuilding and the history of fishing, the two cornerstone industries of the town.

Over the past summers of the museum’s existence, we have had displays about:

One room school and the many schools of Milbridge
Children’s toys
An early kitchen
A general store, based on Strout’s Store on Main Street.
The office of Dr. Betteridge, a Milbridge doctor prior to 1960
The sardine Industry
An early Milbridge farm
Main Street 1898

Some of these displays will be brought into the museum again and re-cycled into new exhibits in future years. If you have a favorite you’d like to see again, tell the host at the museum.

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Ongoing Displays

Old Days, Old Ways

Here you will see of the old tools, kitchen utensils, and various household items that were once in common use, but are no longer seen today. There's an old pump organ that came from the parlor of a Milbridge home and many more interesting old things.


	Old Ways of Fishing Always a mainstay of Milbridge, fishing has changed a great deal over the years, not only in what is caught but in how it is caught. See the old lobster traps, a model of a fish weir, and learn about the many sardine canneries that once lined the Maine coast.

Shipbuilding From its earliest days, Milbridge's claim to fame was as a shipbuilding center. From the mid-1800's until just before World War I, the Sawyer family operated the largest shipyards in town. See some of the tools used in shipbuilding and see pictures of just a few of the150 big ships that came from their yards. Included is an exhibit about the building of the Janet May in 1983. The 62 foot schooner was built in Milbridge from native materials by two local builders and launched on the Narraguagus River.

Refuge System Time Capsule To mark the occasion of the 100th birthday of the National Wildlife Refuge, a time capsule was created and filled with interesting pictures and material about the refuge here in Downeast Maine. The contents of the time capsule will be on display at the museum for several seasons.	Old Pictures of Milbridge You will see many pictures around the museum of the lovely old homes and businesses of Milbridge.