Historic house, museum open for holiday tours

BANGOR – The Bangor Historical Society is offering an invitation to turn back the clock and visit the Thomas A. Hill Historic House and Civil War Museum, at 159 Union Street, for a special holiday treat.

The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. through Dec. 22.

Director Margaret Puckett said the house is “dressed for the holidays in lush Victorian splendor” and also features an authentic 1923 Maine beach house-style doll house in the exhibit room area.

As a special holiday offering, Puckett says, the museum is opening for evening tours ($5 for adults, children free) 5-8 p.m. Dec. 19. For these tours the historical society’s staff and volunteers will be attired in period costumes in which to welcome visitors. Puckett said, “The BHS staff will be sharing with visitors the many holiday traditions we celebrate in this country that originated during the Civil War and Victorian eras.

“If you haven’t seen this year’s exhibit, ‘One Hundred Oddities from Bangor’s Attic,’ Puckett says, “this is the last chance to see it” before the museum closes for the season later this month.

Next year’s exhibit, “Formally Yours,” will feature formal clothing from Quipis Collection of clothing and textiles. It will open April 1.

The museum’s gift shop is open Mondays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. through Dec. 22. The gift shop also will be open Dec. 19, during the special evening tour hours.

The shop has a wide selection of publications about Bangor’s historical houses, the logging industry, the history of the city, and other subjects, as well as other items that in some way represent earlier events and times. The newly designed BHS calendar for 2001 also will be on sale.

Bangor Historical Society members and children are admitted free. For more information call the BHS at 942-5766.