GOING BACK IN TIME AT THE RAILWAY VILLAGE MUSEUM IN BOOTHBAY, MAINE

During our recent annual vacation in Maine, we made our second visit to the Railway Museum to entertain my five-year-old grandson. He was four when we first visited and doesn’t remember much about that visit.

The museum has a vintage train, powered by coal and steam, and two original train stations. The one you see here from the back, the Freeport Station was built in 1912 and moved in 1964, 39.2 miles from Freeport to Boothbay, over the Kennebec River.

Here you can see the steam powered engine and the carriage car.

View inside the carriage car. We sat in an open air car at the back, the better to enjoy the views. The chairs inside were small!

            The second station, the Thorndike Station, is located halfway around the large circle of the narrow track on which the train takes its passengers for a ride. The station was built in 1871 for the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad.

Here you can see the steam-powered engine and the carriage car.

            The circular track surrounds the village, which contains artifacts from Maine’s railroad history as well as historical structures from the 1800s and 1900s that were moved to the site. There is also a goat enclosure with two very friendly goats named Coal and Tender. See 16 on the map.

            The Boothbay Town Hall is the oldest structure on the green, moved there in 1990. Built in 1847 for $700, it is a good example of Greek Revival style and has a magnificent open room with a gorgeous floor, still used for meetings.

            The Spruce Point Chapel was built in 1923 and relocated to the museum in 1995.

            The fire station houses the 1925 Cosmopolitan fire truck and a 1929 hook and ladder from Boothbay Harbor.

From Take Me 2 Maine

But by far, my favorite place to visit is the antique auto museum. There I found a 1930 Model A phaeton, which was the first car I owned (no, I’m not that old!) and it’s color is the same as my car.  I’d love to have one again.

I could go on and on about the filling station, the blacksmith shop, the general store, etc. but I wanted to give you a taste of a really great place to visit. We were very happy that we managed to do our tour earlier than three tour buses and the day before a fall fair on the village green that had cars parked everywhere.

Tompkins Filling station, originally from East Boothbay From Take Me 2 Maine

Maine’s Merci car, from 1880. Presented in 1949 by the people of France to the people of Maine, this is one of 49 antique boxcars filled with gifts of gratitude for the donations of relief goods sent to France in 1948, “40 & 8” boxcars like this one were used to carry 40 men or 8 horses during WWI.

The village green.

I highly recommend that if you are in this area, you make a morning of it at this museum!