Wilson Museum

The Wilson Museum is a museum in Castine, Maine, USA. It was founded using the collection of Dr John Howard Wilson, a geologist.

Wilson lived in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Nantucket during his youth. He arrived at Castine in 1891 with his mother, Cassine Cartwright Wilson. He received a PhD in geology from Columbia University.

In 1921, Mrs Wilson gave the western part of the land she owned to build a museum for John Wilson's collections. Three other buildings were added in the late 1960s, the Blacksmith Shop, Hearse House, and the John Perkins House.

The exhibits include:

* Rocks, minerals, shells.
* Pre-historic artifacts from North and South America.
* Exhibits from Europe and Africa illustrating the development of tools during the early Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages.
* Six dioramas constructed by Ned Burns of the American Museum of Natural History in 1926.
* Cultures of Africa, Oceania, North and South America.
* Early weapons and firearms.
* Local history.
* Ship models.
* 19th century carpenter's tools, farm and household equipment.
* Reconstructed kitchen of 1805 and a Victorian parlor.
* Special exhibits every summer using the museum's collections.
* Archival material on the history of Castine.

External links

* [http://www.wilsonmuseum.org/ The Wilson Museum website]