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Patten Lumbermen’s Museum

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The Patten Lumberman’s Museum held a Dedication Ceremony Monday, October 9, 2006 for the newly constructed Reception Center /Photo Gallery. The new Reception Center replaces the 100 year old State Forest Service building donated to the Museum 30 years ago and will now have the capability to preserve for future generations the century old photographs, art work and books which depict the lives of men at the beginning of the logging era. This heated 50 by 70 ft. “state of the art” facility was constructed entirely by the Board of Directors, Members of the Museum and local businesses through donations of materials and labor. Designed with the future in mind, the facility includes a conference room, video library, art and photo gallery, gift shop and restrooms.     

Guest speakers at the event included Rep. Henry Joy, Frank Rogers- Grandson of the Museum Founder, Marty Arbo -Flags for Main Streets, Bud Blumenstock- Forestry Professor and Donald Shorey- President of the Board for the Museum.

Each speaker emphasized their appreciation of the many hard working individuals and organizations who dedicated themselves to this project. A plaque, made from local cedar, will be hung in the Museum to commemorate their generosity.

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 original museum building was reconstructed in 1963 on a parcel of land donated by Huber family, with hewn timbers salvaged from two log houses built about 1840 at the base of Mt. Chase.  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.

 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.