19th Century Willowbrook Village

The Museum 

In 1967 Don started the construction of Willowbrook and from spring 1969 to spring 1970 the work intensified. As restoration of the buildings advanced, staff worked year-round restoring everything from wagons, buggies and sleighs to farm equipment to furniture for display. Don’s philosophy, in his words, was to “restore to the day of manufacture as we feel the people of the 19th century used and took great care of their possessions—they did not live in shabby homes or ride in worn out, junky wagons.”

Don was an ardent reader and collected and referenced numerous books and catalogues on the Victorian period in general as well as material on specific items such as furniture, tools, farm equipment, bicycles, and the like. In looking at the collection today, it is clear that he took some liberties in his interpretation, but he was faithful to his intent to express the spirit of the age in his restorations. 

Most of the artifact restoration was done by Don King, with assistance from Georgia Perry and Cecile LaPage, both from Limerick, Maine. Don’s original plan was to open only the Durgin barn for display. Tools, tradesmen shops and farm equipment were to be featured on the ground floor and in the basement; household furnishings were to be displayed in “rooms” set up within the ballroom above the country store. Given the extent of what had been collected, it was soon decided to expand the exhibit areas to the Durgin and Trafton houses and other structures.

In spring 1969, Don’s son Doug and his wife, Dorothee, moved to Newfield for six months to help organize the exhibits and oversee the restorations of the buildings. They worked with Forest Chute and Alden Terrell, both Newfield residents, along with Georgia Perry and Cecile LaPage, from May till November. Forest and Alden did much of the outdoor work and moving and setting heavy items in place. Georgia and Cecile did much of the restoration work including upholstery, wallpapering, scraping and painting.

While restoring the house interiors, Doug and Dorothee discovered a wallpaper shop in Springvale, Maine, that had been in existence since the end of the 1800s. The shop still had wallpaper from the museum’s time period in storage, including the paper that was installed in the entry hall of the Trafton house. Pan King personally fabricated all the drapes and curtains in both houses with materials appropriate to the era, created the display of period dresses, and set up the kitchen in the Trafton house. Doug and Dorothee acquired the fabrics used for the drapes in the Durgin and Trafton houses from suppliers in New York City.

At its opening on May 1, 1970, Willowbrook included the William Durgin Homestead and associated barns—including the country store and ballroom, the Dr. Isaac Trafton Homestead and barn with the sandwich shop and ice cream parlor, and the school house (a reconstruction of the one-room, 1810 Fenderson school house located in South Parsonfield, Maine, too deteriorated to be relocated).

As time passed, the collections expanded and new buildings and structures were added to house them; the last to be added was the carousel building in 1991.