19th Century Willowbrook Village was an open-air museum encompassing a former 19th-century village in Newfield, Maine. It is located north of the town center on Elm Street, on approximately, with 34 buildings. It was open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 5 days each week from the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through October, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Much of the museum property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Newfield (Willowbrook) Historic District.Description and historyWillowbrook Village is located just south of Chellis Brook, and north of the village center. It includes a mill pond that was made by damming the brook, and a collection of buildings located both north and south of the pond. This area was the historic town center of Newfield, until the area was devastated by a wildfire in 1947, which did extensive damage in this area of York County.In the 1960s Massachusetts resident Don King began purchasing the properties surrounding the mill pond, and began restoring the buildings and other artifacts he had accumulated. The museum opened on May 1, 1970.On October 10, 2016, 19th Century Willowbrook Village closed permanently after struggling with costs for many years. On January 1, 2017 ownership of the former Willowbrook Museum transferred to Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond & Newfield. This museum is currently expanding its offering at its home campus located at 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME. The museum's mission emphasizes experiential, hands-on learning activities connected with science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM)with a working collection of 19th and early 20th century artifacts. At the Fields Pond location, the museum is currently developing a museum village scenario similar to former Willowbrook Museum. The museum in Newfield continues to operate on a reduced level of visitation with a schedule of Director's Tours Weekends ( with carousel rides ), Special Events ( see Curran Homestead Village's website and Facebook page ), summer history camp, as well as spring and fall school field trips this 2017-2018 season.
