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The Parish House Museum located at 72 Church Street, Brownville, has opened for the 2021 season. Hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 2pm and by appointment. To visit outside the regular hours, please call Susan at 965-8070.

The Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society held its annual meeting at the end of May. Here are the highlights:

The same slate of officers and directors were reelected for another year. The publishing committee formed several years ago when Ken Hatchette was writing his book about the Canadian Pacific Railroad in Brownville Junction was disbanded as the group does not plan to be in the publishing business again the near future.

There was some discussion about the group’s three newsletters for 2021. Each will focus on veterans from wars the United States has been involved with back to the Revolutionary War. Volunteer Dan Peters is taking charge of those articles and would welcome stories of any Brownville residents who have served and would be interested in sharing their memories.

The group has also been asked to submit an article to the Memories of Maine magazine again this year. This article will focus on the “Boys of ’67” – the 1966-67 State Championship basketball team – and the resurrection of the BJHS basketball scoreboard which will be on display this year at the museum.

Over the past several years the group has been contacted a number of times by people who do not live in the are but are searching for information about people or places here. Some have been very generous when such work has been completed and sent to them; others not so much. It was decided that when asked to gather such information requiring time outside the volunteers’ normal hours, there will be a minimum $20 charge (plus any applicable postage). People are reminded the this organization exists ONLY on dues and donations.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be at the museum on June 29th at 1pm. All are welcome.

If you’d like to join the Society, send $5 for annual dues to B-BJ Historical Society, PO Box 794, Brownville ME 04414

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By now, members of the Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society are reading the first of three newsletters this year that will focus on Brownville’s (and surrounding areas) veterans.

Brownville sent men to serve our country as far back as the Revolutionary War. There were 134 men who served from our area in the Civil War! If you have received the newsletter, you’ll probably see names you recognize in that list of names!

There are two reports written by volunteer Dan Peters. One is about Samuel Stickney who served in the Revolutionary War; the other is about Walter Morrill (of Williamsburg) who served in the Civil War. Both are great stories about these men. If we had room, we could have added stories about many, many more!

Other items mentioned….

The opening of the Parish House Museum this year! We hope to see a lot more visitors than we did last year! If you’ve never been in, we hope to have the museum open, as usual, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 2pm. You can also call Susan at 965-8070 for an appointment. Either she or another of the volunteers will be happy to open the museum for you.

We’ve answered a number of email or phone requests over the winter months. If we don’t know it, we might have already catalogued a notebook or two with information YOU are looking for!

We’d still like to have YOUR story of life in our area. It can be a comprehensive report of your life or that of your family members or it can be a short mention of some specific event that brings you happy memories! If you have a story but don’t feel you can write it, contact Susan Worcester. She’ll be happy to organize and write it for you.

We’ve been contacted by the Memories of Maine magazine to ask if we had anything we’d like to contribute this year. They printed a story Susan wrote about the history of the Canadian Pacific Railroad a couple years ago. Thanks to Ken Hatchette’s book, The Canadian Pacific Railroad in Brownville Junction, Maine 1886 to 1963 she was able to produce a condensed essay about that portion of Brownville’s history. This year Dan Peters has written an article about Brownville Junction’s Championship basketball team – the team of 1966-67! It includes mentions of people connected with that team. We don’t know which version of the magazine the article will appear in yet.

Can’t close this recap without mentioning that for only $5 per year (or $100 for a lifetime membership) you could support the Historical Society. The museum and the Society exists solely on donations. There is no admission fee to come and browse around.

And, lastly, we are always looking for a few good volunteers. Remember we are only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays and “open season” runs from late June to the end of September. It’s not a lifetime commitment! We would be happy to talk with you about how you can help!