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NEWFIELD - Newfield's beloved 19th Century Willowbrook Village on Elm Street will close for good in October.
The museum's collections will be relocated to other venues, according to Doug King, the president of Willowbrook's board of trustees.
King provided the history of Willowbrook in a press release.
"Willowbrook has offered unforgettable educational, cultural and historic knowledge of rural life in Maine and New England during the 19th and early 20th centuries to more than 430,000 visitors and school children since 1970. Many adults whose children now visit Willowbrook visited the musem themselves as children," the press release read.
This is Willowbrook’s 47th season and, due to financial considerations, its last in Newfield. The last day will be Oct. 10.
Willowbrook’s Board of Trustees is working with a select number of non profit museums in Maine to relocate and give new life to as much of the museum's collections as possible. Major gifts of the collections will be offered to The Curran Homestead, Boothbay Railway Village and Skyline Farm. Smaller gifts will be offered to the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society, Maine State Museum, the Newfield Historical Society, the Brick Store Museum, Washburn Norlands Living History Center and the Maine Antique Power Association.
In making these gifts, Willowbrook’s collections will remain on view to the public, and the educational and historic awareness programming that has been central to Willowbrook’s mission will continue as part of its legacy.
Willowbrook’s themed collections include trades (printing, barber, harness maker, shoe maker, broom maker, pump maker, ice harvester, canoe maker, blacksmith, wheelwright, farmer, logger, carpenter, carriage maker, tinsmith, orchardist and cider producer, cooper, syrup maker, metal worker and teacher); domestic labor (cooking, sewing and lace making, weaving and spinning, laundry, creamery, and domestic living); entertainment (musical instruments, street music, bandstand, dancing, photography and motion pictures, and a carousel); recreation (sledding and sleighing, ice skating, bicycling, boating, hunting and fishing, and horse racing); transportation (carriages, wagons, sleighs and utility vehicles); and other exhibits (Hands on History, early gas engines and tractors, lawn mowers, Civil War and hunting artifacts).
Donald King, the founder of Willowbrook, first lived in Newfield in the 1960s. He loved collecting mechanical antiques (engines, tractors, gas powered pumps and an extensive number of hand tools) as well as artifacts of 19th Century rural Maine (carriages, wagons, coaches, snow rollers, farm implements, bicycles, and period furnishings) that he exhibited in two historic homesteads and barns he had acquired. Over the years, other buildings were added, including a carriage house, a cooperage shop, a printer’s shop, two blacksmith shops, a one-room schoolhouse, various open sheds and finally a structure to house a working,
1894 Armitage Herschell traveling carousel.
"Willowbrook is indebted to its staff, volunteers, members and supporters, and especially to its directors — Georgia Perry (1970-2003); Amelia Chamberlain (2004-2011); John Michalowski (2012-2013); Robert Schmick, Ph.D. (2013-2016) — each of whom have had an important impact on the museum," King's press release read.
Harland Eastman, the president of the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society, reacted to the news about Willowbrook's closing in a letter to the editor to the Sanford News on Friday morning.
"For 47 years, Willowbrook has shown adults and children what life was like a century or more ago," Eastman wrote. "I have been there dozens of times. I took my children there when it first opened. I have taken many others to Willowbrook since my retirement. All have been wide-eyed with wonder. The impact Willowbrook has had on generations of children makes its closing even more difficult to bear."
Eastman called Willowbrook's closing in October a tragedy, "not just for Maine but for all of America."
"There are only a few museums such as Willowbrook in the United States," he wrote. "Donald King created something breathtaking. It should have lasted for hundreds of years. With its closing, generations to come will never have the thrill of visiting Newfield and experiencing what life was like in rural America once upon a time."
During the remaining of this 2016 season, exciting and varied events are planned at Willowbrook, including the National Glidden Antique Auto Show on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at which more than 200 antique and vintage autos will be on view.
A Victorian Country Dinner will be held on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the museum's annual Painted Pony Party. Dinner, a silent auction, Bluegrass music, a carousel ride and more will all be part of the entertainment. Tickets are on sale now and are $22 for singles and $40 couples; members get a discount. There will be a complimentary glass of Gneiss beer or a choice of wine at the event. Additional glasses will be $5 for a large and $3 for a small. RSVP now by calling the museum at 793-2784.
Sunday, Oct. 2, will be Willowbrook's annual Ash Sunday, White Ash Tree Woodcraft Day, a part of Southern Maine Woods. And on Saturday, Oct. 8, is the annual Ocktoberfest with dinner and music at the museum from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. This is the annual fundraiser for the museum. Tickets are on sale now.
If you have never been to Willowbrook, or haven’t visited recently, the next few weeks will afford you a great opportunity to view its collections again in Newfield. Willowbrook is open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.