Historical Society Meetings

The next meeting of the Athens Historical Society is Thursday, April 9th, 6pm at the Somerset Academy.

The upstairs Historical Society museum and Library is open by appointment.

The Historical Society has been helping to put together an Old West Athens map project where we will be seeking public input to labeling locations of old stores, farms, schools, churches, orchards, mills, burial grounds, fairgrounds and other sites of historic interest in West Athens. The Historical Society has a good deal of information on where these sites were in other parts of Athens, but records of West Athens history have been more scarce. If you or anyone you know has knowledge of where things used to be in West Athens, please come to the open house and pass the word on to others to help with this local history project. 

For directions to the next meeting or to be added to the Historical Society Mailing list, and receive updates on meeting and events please email hlm@startmail.com

All are welcome to attend and learn about, share, and help preserve local history.

SAVE THE DATE FOR OLD HOME DAYS!

Friday, September 18th and Saturday, September 19th.

Old Home Days at the Athens Wesserunsett Valley Fairgrounds and Exhibition Hall brings together people from all generations in the community for a great time.

Old Home Days is a free community event featuring live music, a potluck dinner, games, crafts, livestock, wool spinning, tug of war, frying pan toss, blacksmithing demonstrations, woodworking & sawmill demonstrations, clothes dying, pie contest and auction, chili and bean contests, silent auction, agricultural contests, local food vendors, Athens history displays, a general store, antique tractor show, a ridable model railroad, and a Quilts of Valor presentation honoring local veterans.

If you would like to volunteer or vend at Old Home Days, please contact the Historical Society.

ABOUT THE ATHENS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Athens Historical Society has been active and growing in the past couple years, with over a dozen new members, educational events, and regular meetings where we plan events and share local history with pictures and storytelling.

Volunteers have been working on cleaning and organizing the Historical Society museum so it can be open to visits on a regular basis.

If you are looking for information about your family, home, or history of the area, you can make an appointment to look through the Historical Society materials located upstairs at the Somerset Academy building.

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Athens Historical Society Cookbook

Over the past year the Historical Society has collected recipes from local people and from old community cookbooks and newspapers in the Historical Society library.

The cookbook features over 100 years of recipes from in and around Athens, along with  helpful hints and historical pictures.

Makes a great gift!

Cookbooks are available at the Athens Town Office and by contacting the Historical Society at hlm@startmail.com

Cookbooks are $15 each.

INVENTORY

Historical Society volunteers are working on creating a digital inventory of the items in our museum. You can view the inventory file here.

DONATIONS

The Historical Society received several donations in the past two years, including:

~ A crazy quilt made in the late 1800’s by Floyd French’s grandmother, donated by Bette Withers of Ontario. The quilt was owned by the Kincaid family, who ran a store and dancehall in West Athens.

~ A wooden mortar and pestle that were originally used at L.C. Williams donated by Sharon Wise.

~ A collection of articles on Athens births, events, and artists, written by Anna Freeman between the 1970’s and 90’s, donated by Anna Freeman.

+ Photographs by Lindon Brown of Athens in the mid-1950s through 1960s, donated by his daughter Janet West.

+ Photographs of Athens from Bill Eberhardt.

+ Newspaper articles and maps donated by Carol Dove.

+ Painting of the Dr. Greene House, donated by Jean Turnbull.

+ Maps and photographs of Athens area people from the 1930s through 1970s, donated by Barbara Starbird.

+ Scrapbooks, photographs, a model delivery truck, and other Rowell’s store and family memorabilia donated by Dianne Rowell Poulin Corson. Dianne donated these materials following a fire at her home (former Rowell’s General Store), where thanks to the hard work of Athens Firefighters, many historic materials were saved. She was an active volunteer with the Historical Society, and a source of great stories and knowledge of local history.

Dianne passed away in December of 2025 is greatly missed.

If you have historic documents, art, or photos of life around Athens and the Wesserunsett Valley that you would like to donate, please be in touch!

SOMERSET ACADEMY REUNION

The Historical Society is working to bring together people who attended Somerset Academy for an all-class reunion. If you are interested please contact the Historical Society.

Call: (207) 654-3471

President: Jesse Huff

Secretary & Curator: Hillary Lister

Town Historian: Guy Anton

Treasurer: Sandy McLardy