Museum Store

How to Order

You can place an order by emailing us at MillinocketHistSoc@gmail.com, calling us at (207)723-5477, or by sending a Facebook message.

All items may be mailed - add $6 shipping and handling for each item. Let us know if you would like expedited shipping to arrive by Christmas. We'll do our best to accommodate late orders.

The museum store is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, from 12 to 3 PM.

New!

Chesuncook Passages, 1903-1971: Loggers, Settlers, & Sports, his latest work, is a fascinating compendium of history and pictures that cover 1903 to 1971 (Penobscot Log Driving Company and Great Northern Paper Company). Topics include the log drives, townships, people, farms, and the Chesuncook and Ripogenus dams.

Beginning January 1, 1903 the Penobscot Log Driving Company, a confederation of loggers, gave way to Great Northern Paper Company that formed about 1900 and took over log driving operations in 1903. The 1970 drive was the last one and a clean up drive followed in 1971. This compendium of history and pictures (445) of Chesuncook Lake covers the 18 townships with water flowing into it from the north, east and south. People who lived their lives here are the primary focal point. Interspersed throughout the book are biographical sketches. Within each chapter and decade is information about the families and individuals present.

This book’s two opening chapters, access and farms, and Chesuncook dam and Ripogenus dam, provide a context for the history. Congregations of people lived at the head of Chesuncook Lake, Chesuncook dam, and at Ripogenus dam. Each location has a chapter organized by decades.

The leading logging chapter focuses on log driving dams and is followed by one on booming out, towing boom bags and sluicing at the dams. The cutting operations chapter is organized by year and includes interspersed informational snapshots pertaining to the operations. Within the book’s geographic area were a few men who lived alone as well as a small number of commercial and private sporting camps. They are included in the last chapter.

The book’s appendix contains corrections of errors appearing in Geller’s other three books devoted to West Branch of the Penobscot River history.

Rendezvous at Chesuncook, 1827-1902; A Chronicle of Surveyors, Landowners, Loggers, Settlers & Sports

Bill Geller

The text's two major focal points are people and old photographs. Over 350 biographical sketches include surveyors, landowners, lumbermen, drive bosses, loggers, settlers, and builders of dams and boats. For the 170 plus pictures this book is their only aggregate presentation. The photos reveal what the landscape and settlements once looked like and how they changed over the decades in this book.

This book purposely ends December 30, 1902. Through 1902 the loggers were independent and orchestrated their cooperation through their organization the Penobscot Log Driving Company, an entity that reformed every year with those who were logging. The book's decade-by-decade chapter organization draws attention to their consistent year-to-year remarkable efforts and successes.

Within each chapter the content focuses on who surveyed the land, who bought property, who logged, who settled, and who worked with sports; what were their activities; and how and with what did they function. Within this information are the wilderness farms that served the area: Lily Bay, Roach River, Ragged Lake, Ripogenus Lake, Deer Pond, and the head of Chesuncook Lake. The decade-by-decade organization reveals how ways and means of living and logging evolved. For example loggers used horses, but prior to the 1890s the predominant work animal was an ox; why was that? The last chapter, "Remembering the drive bosses," has pictures of 13 of these 22 men and for everyone a verbal snap shot through which to remember them.

Within Katahdin's Realm by Bill Geller

$30

Maine historian/researcher/author Bill Geller is the authority of the history of the woods and waters around Millinocket.

A detailed historical journey along the West Branch of the Penobscot River and its tributaries, with great stories about the logging operations and the sporting camps.

West of Chesuncook & North of Moosehead: Log Drives & Sporting Camps, 1830-1971 by Bill Geller

$30

Maine historian/researcher/author Bill Geller is the authority of the history of the woods and waters around Millinocket. 2nd in series on West Branch logging days/sporting camps

Maine Sporting Camp History by Bill Geller

$25

Maine historian/researcher/author Bill Geller is the authority of the history of the woods and waters around Millinocket. 3rd in a series on West Branch logging days/sporting camps from this very popular author.

The Way We Were: Scott Brook Operation 1956 – 1982 by R. E. Blodgett (reproduction)

$30

This book is a history of the logging operations at Scott Brook and the history of the men who worked there.

The Northern Magazine, complete set, digitized

$50

From 1921 to 1928 the Spruce Wood Department of Great Northern Paper Company published a monthly magazine full of news and stories about the company designed to connect the laborers and the executives. Every issue is a gem that makes for wonderful reading or research.

A Little Taste of History - Cookbook

$20

A tribute to all the fine ladies of Millinocket's past, this book is filled with recipes you'll love from today and from decades ago. Includes photos of the lovely cooks that once graced Millinocket's kitchens.

Millinocket - Magic City of Maine's Wilderness by Dorothy Bowler Laverty

$25

First published in 1973, this is the only history of Millinocket written to date. It covers the time period from early settlers and GNP's arrival to the 1970s. A Millinocket must-have.

So You Live in Millinocket by Dorothy Bowler Laverty

$10.00 softcover

$15.00 hardcover

Do you live in Millinocket? If so, your house is unique. Find out why. Learn about the architectural styles through the decades, the streets and neighborhoods, and the people who built our homes. We recommend for new Millinocket homeowners.

Millinocket Schoolhouses - A Look Back in Time by Trudy Wyman and Leola Fongemie Dubois

$20

Written and published by the historical society, this book is a fascinating history of each of the school buildings in Millinocket. If you grew up here, you'll enjoy lots of pictures of classrooms, the schools, and great student photos through the years!

Millinocket, Images of America by David Duplisea

$20

Featuring photos from the Historical Society collections.

Stearns and St. Martin's Yearbooks

$10

These are used, of course. Some have no writing at all because they were the parent's copy, some have autographs on every page! We use these all the time to identify photos and they are a blast to look through. They also make great gifts.

Logging Towboats and Boom Jumpers by Roger Allen Moody

$20

O. A. Harkness helped Great Northern Paper Company become the largest paper mill in the world. He built 'an inland navy' designed to move logs to the mill. He also operated an innovative logging tramway, a fleet of Lombard log haulers, and a landlocked wilderness railroad to move logs from the Saint John watershed to the Penobscot. The ghost train locomotives still remain in the woods.

Thoreau's Moosehead and Chesuncook Guides - Attean and Polis by Marion Whitney Smith

$10

Thoreau went to Greenville via stagecoach along with two Native American guides, Attean and Polis.

Katahdin Fantasies by Marion Whitney Smith (rare signed copy) Not Available

$30

Signed collectible book by local author about Abenaki legends of Mt. Katahdin. Many black and white photos.

Algonquian and Abenaki Indian: Myths and Legends by Marion Whitney Smith

$10 (reproduction)

Timber!: The Fall of Maine's Paper Giants by Paul McCann

$15

The end of the paper industry is chronicled in this book by a local author. Unread copies, some have minor damage.

Commemorative Publication - Millinocket, Maine 1901-2001

$5

100th-anniversary publication. Great photos and history of Millinocket.

Commemorative Publication - 50th Anniversary Millinocket, Maine

$10

Lovely old booklet commemorating our 50th-anniversary celebration. This one is special and would make a great gift. It contains the remarks by George Stearns from the 25th anniversary - just one of the highlights of this commemorative booklet of the first 50 years of our town.