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Patten Lumbermen's Museum (Visit this link)
The Patten Lumbermen's Museum was established to preserve a graphic record of
the lumber industry as it existed in forests of Northern Maine before the second
World War. It is located just west of Patten on the Shin Pond Road which, for
over 175 years, has been the highway over which have passed thousands of
woodsmen, their horses and supplies, to cut the pine, spruce, firs and hardwoods
in the upper valley of the East Branch of the Penobscot. In more recent years an
endless stream of trucks loaded with logs and pulpwood pass the museum daily.
Over the years, the museum has developed a number of unique logging exhibits.
Some exhibits you'll find here include a Lombard Steam hauler, vintage
chainsaws, logging sleds, Holt tractors, logging tools, and many antique
photographs documenting the visual history of Maine logging.
The collections are housed in nine buildings, one a log structure made with hewn
timber salvaged from two log houses built about 1840. It contains models and
dioramas of the camps used in various periods of Maine lumbering, the equipment
and utensils used in providing the crews with meals in the woods and on drives;
and the tools used in cutting the timber, hauling it to the rivers, and driving
the logs to the mills. There are models of saw mills, and an extensive
collection of the tools used by the carpenters, coopers, and millwrights.
Two buildings are open tool sheds 45' x 45' holding the heavy equipment. The
sheds contain the horse drawn logging sleds, tote sleds and wagons, bateaux,
Lombard loghaulers, steam and gasoline, a Holt tractor, a water cart, snow plow,
snubbing machine, and early logging trucks, among other exhibits.
The 1820 logging camp used in the very early days of lumbering in this region
with ox team and a crew of 12 to 14 men is reproduced in every detail and is
equipped with tools and utensils such as were used 180 years ago. It is built
without a nail.
A full sized double camp with bunkhouse, dingle, and cook's quarters is equipped
in complete detail the way it would have been when in use.
A blacksmith shop as used in the larger operations, containing the tools used by
the blacksmith, farrier, and wheelwright, is housed in a separate building. This
log building is currently being reorganized so that it can be used for actual
blacksmithing demonstrations.
Other exhibits include a portable sawmill, a shingle machine, and equipment for
shaving shingles by hand. A rack and pinion sawmill over 100 years old has been
rebuilt and is now on display. Working models of an up and down sawmill, pit
saw, drag saw, and stationary circular saw mill are also included in the
displays.
one fo our latest additions is our reception center with dramatic murals painted
by local artists. It also houses a gift shop, a women's room, and a Founder's
Room. A wing has been added to this building to house a dynamic Winter Logging
Scene diorama. The display, once displayed at the Eastern States Exposition in
Massachusetts, is 30 ft. long and 8 ft. wide with a back drop of hand painted
winter logging scenes. It includes miniature horses, men, sleds, plows, snow
rollers and other equipment.
http://www.lumbermensmuseum.org