ORRINGTON, Maine — One hundred years ago, when the Curran family began operating a subsistence farm near Fields Pond, they couldn’t have imagined their ordinary way of life would one day be the subject of a living history museum that brings Girl Scouts, blacksmith students and many others to their farmhouse doors.
Nor could they have imagined that their homestead would one day connect rural Orrington with Newfield, a small York County town that is home to the 19th Century Willowbrook Village. But that is what’s happening, now that officials from Willowbrook announced earlier this month that the village will close for good at the end of its 47th season in mid-October because of financial pressures. Still, it’s not the end of the road for the village’s mission or its many treasures. A large portion of items from the village and even some of the land and buildings in the village will be given to the Curran Homestead, including the working Armitage Herschell traveling carousel from 1894.
When asked if the Curran Homestead volunteers feel a touch overwhelmed by the magnitude of the gift, Treasurer Irv Marsters smiled.
“We’re still trying to get our arms around the whole thing,” he said. “It came as such a surprise.”
The Curran Homestead is one of several Maine nonprofit organizations to receive part of the Willowbrook Village collections. Others include the Boothbay Railway Village, Skyline Farm in North Yarmouth, the Maine State Museum, the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore, the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk and the Skowhegan-based Maine Antique Power Association.
But the majority of the collections, including a large portion of the Willowbrook properties, will be given to the Curran Homestead. The gift means there will be changes afoot for the Curran Homestead, according to Marsters, including a possible adoption of a new name to reflect the two campuses in two different communities located 160 miles from one another. Some items from Willowbrook will be moved up to Orrington, including the carousel. And next year, the Curran Homestead plans to have a season at Willowbrook, including a spring field trip for school groups.
“This is such a blessing for Orrington, Holden and the whole Bangor region,” Marsters said. “The artifacts that will be available for us to use are world-class collections.”
Willowbrook Village came to life in 1970, when Donald and Marguerite King opened a museum to showcase the collections that Donald King had brought together. According to the York County Journal Tribune, King purchased an old homestead in Newfield in the 1960s and paid attention as the farms that had operated for generations in the neighborhood began to disappear.
“He bought farm implements and carriages, sleighs, blacksmithing tools and more,” the article read. “Amassing a collection [that] … connects themes of change over time and how invention and innovation impacted rural life.”
Willowbrook Village’s endowment took a hit during the Great Recession that began in 2008, and although fundraising efforts ramped up, it wasn’t enough to ensure the organization’s survival into the future, so the board of directors decided to close it at the end of this year.
Robert Schmick, director of Willowbrook Village, said part of the reason for the closure is that the village is located in a fairly remote, isolated place.
“One of the things the Curran Homestead has to offer is that it’s located within Greater Bangor,” he said. “The idea is that we would like to evolve school field trips and make connections with other home-school groups. Given the factors, we believe the marriage of the two will be successful.”
One thing Curran Homestead and Willowbrook Village have in common is a focus on hands-on, experiential learning. That is what helps keep their collections relevant to children and others who might not know a lot or care much about life at the turn of the last century, but when they try out early cameras or treadmill-powered washing machines or telegraphs, their imaginations are piqued.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘museum,’” Marsters said. “It is hands-on. It’s education. It’s not a static display of old equipment.”
Schmick agreed.
“It’s tactile education at its best, and it’s also the embodiment of American innovation,” he said. “That is the spirit that continues to drive our economy today.”