Essex & Orleans County - Museum Directory

War Memorial, erected in front of the Old Village School, was made possible by the Society. Collections are being formed, including some school furniture, town reports, pictures and artifacts, even a sleigh, all donated by townspeople. Complete inventory of all burials in seven town cemeteries was completed in 2001. Visitors by appointment.

The Bread & Puppet Museum is a 100-foot long old barn filled to the brim with puppets and masks of all sizes ranging from six-inch cardboard cutouts to eighteen-foot tall giants. All are the result of the over 50 years work of Bread & Puppet Theater. The museum is a "theatrum mundi", a unified yet diverse creation rather than a collection of separate objects. It mirrors an immense, colorful world informed and shaped by an extra-ordinary vision and encompassing the big and little, light and dark, celestial and demonic creatures of our existence and imagination.

Hours and Admission: June through October: daily 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Admission is free, donations welcome.

The society occupies the second floor of a Greek Revival building constructed in 1846 for a stop on the Franklin, New Hampshire to Montreal stage route. Local legends persists that the house was used as an Underground Railroad resting place, but no documentation has ever been found to verify this. Canaan's museum, lacking volunteers, is always open whenever the library is open, six days a week, for self-guided tours. Guided tours can be arranged by contacting the curator. During the summer months, the antique logging tool exhibit in the carriage house is open by chance or by appointment.

Hours and Admission:  Afternoons when the Alice Ward Library is open, or call (802) 266-3989 for an appointment.

Memorabilia pertaining to Charleston and its inhabitants.

Hours and Admission: June - August: Wednesdays, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, or by appointment

Rooms in the museum contain a replica of a local doctor's office and smoking room, an old post office, and schoolroom. Collections include household furnishings, tools, clothing, toys, and items from local businesses.

Hours and Admission: Annual Open House Weekend on the last full weekend in September, or by appointment. Admission by donation. Accessible displays are setup during the Open House Weekend, but the museum is not accessible to the disabled.

Hours and Admission: June through mid-October: Wednesday, 10:00 am - noon, Saturday, 10:00 am - noon, or by appointment.

Photographs and artifacts from Barton's industries and schools are housed in the 1820s Pierce House. There is also a model of 200-year-old Barton Mill Hill, the "Brick Kingdom" factory site. Activities include summer exhibits. 

Hours and Admission: Sundays from 1:00-4:00 pm, June-August, or by appointment.

The society has a new musuem in the "Old North Hall" of Derby Academy.  There are eight rooms of exhibits relating to the history of the town including the archives of the Derby Academy.  The first floor is wheelchair accessible.

Hours and Admission: Summer Sunday afternoons and by appointment. Free. Not accessible to the disabled.

The society's museum is located on the second floor of the municipal building, the former "Leonard homestead." School photos, Civil War, cellar holes, home photos (then and now), and cemetery lists are some of the items being archived. Genealogy data is being gathered also. Many publications are available for sale. Visitors by appointment. No charge.

The society resides in the restored library built in 1900 and in an attached new barn. A permanent exhibit tells the early history of Greensboro through the Hill Family homestead. An annual exhibit in the library building highlights varied facets of Greensboro history.

Hours and Admission: July - August only: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:30 am - 2:30 pm, Saturday 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, or by appointment

The museum is housed in the former Congregational church, built in 1848. There are photographs, household furnishings, textiles, farm implements, military artifacts, and church and town memorabilia. Activities include Old Home Day on the first Sunday in August.

Hours and Admission: June - September: by appointment. Free.

The historical society is located at 126 Cross St, Island Pond. There are permanent displays of photographs, railroad memorabilia, 19th-century clothing and uniforms, lumbering tools, local newspapers, and Odd Fellows memorabilia.

Hours and Admission: June - October: Saturdays & Sundays, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

The society was organized in July 1999 in the new town hall. Collections are being formed.

Hours and Admission: by appointment.

The society's collection includes many books, documents, and photographs pertaining to the history of Lunenburg and its residents. Visitors by appointment.

The museum is housed in a mid-19th-century building that was first a blacksmith shop and then a church. Collections are of 19th-century textiles, costumes, household furnishings, farm tools, and photographs.

Hours and Admission: Memorial Day - Labor Day: Sunday, 1:00 – 3:00 pm and by appointment. Free.

Genealogy & records, family notebooks from the 1930s forward. Items from the past to refresh your memories as well as better appreciate those who lived in these old hills before us.

Hours and Admission: July - September: Monday 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 pm, or by appointment.

The Society & Museum is web-based only. Created to honor the memory of Lt. Col Mark C. Biron. Dedicated to promoting the history of the Port of Norton, and preserving the history of the founders and first selectpersons of this exciting and northernmost Vermont border town. Focusing on Norton's lumber barons, prohibition-era smuggling, and societal development through the creation of the Grand Trunk railroad.

The museum is owned and operated by the Orleans County Historical Society. The Society assumed ownership of the four-story granite dormitory in 1916. The dormitory, named Athenian Hall, was built by Alexander Twilight (1795-1858), Brownington Academy's most prominent headmaster, minister and educator. Mr. Twilight was especially notable as he was of African American decent, served in the VT State Legislature and was an influential community leader. The Society rescued the impressive building from demolition and has since used it to display collections of 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century New England furniture, paintings, decorative arts, tools, local folk art, folk technology, and a small research library. There are 23 rooms of permanent exhibits including 11 "town rooms" representing 11 of the 18 towns in the county. Today, the museum complex includes the Samuel Read Hall House (1831), Cyrus Eaton House (c. 1834), the Alexander Twilight Homestead (c. 1830), the Lawrence Barn (c.1840), the Brownington Academy Grammar School (c. 1823) and Prospect Hill Observatory, and 55 acres of open agricultural land. Activities include guided tours of the museum, an annual antique engine show, and Old Stone House Day (Sunday nearest Bennington Battle Day), heritage craft and agricultural workshops, a day camp, recreational opportunities and special cultural programs. The museum also provides a variety of educational programs to schools in the region.

Hours and Admission: May 15 - October 15: Wednesday - Sunday, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm. Adults $10, Brownington residents- Free, Students/seniors/children/members discounted rates. Come visit our new Historic Interpretive Recreation Trails opening in Fall 2020.

This town museum and public library, built in 1899, has exhibit rooms with 19th-century farm tools, furniture, costumes, linens, photographs, rock, butterfly, and coral collections. Visitors by appointment.