The South Bristol Historical Society Museum on Route 129 in the village of South Bristol.
Summer open hours at two historical centers maintained by the South Bristol Historical Society have been announced. The Society’s Museum and Genealogical Research Center is now open every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., and beginning July 6, the S Road School will also be open every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
The SBHS Museum and Genealogical Research Center is located in the old library building on the east side of State Route 129, just south of the swing bridge in South Bristol. The museum’s collection includes scrapbooks, picture albums, letters and other documents, postcards, South Bristol School yearbooks, old tools and household items, store ledgers, games, toys, and clothing – all of which are being catalogued in a computerized database for easy access. Genealogies of many of South Bristol’s families as well as comprehensive information about the Town’s cemeteries can also be found here. The Society’s numerous publications and other items such as coffee mugs and historical maps can also be purchased there.
The S Road Schoolhouse and the old smokehouse on the edge of the woods to the right of the building.
The S Road Schoolhouse, located at the intersection of Route 129 and the S Road in South Bristol, was constructed in 1860 and was an elementary school until 1943. Restored by SBHS in 2009, it is the only remaining one-room schoolhouse in the Town of South Bristol. Visitors can experience the room just as it was in 1930 with no central heating or indoor plumbing, no computers or audio-visual equipment, no water fountain, or gymnasium. In addition, a small portion of the building is devoted to exhibits and documents related to education in South Bristol over the years.
The Schoolhouse site is also home to “the Old Smokehouse” which once stood at water’s edge near the bridge across the Gut. Smoking herring or alewives was a community affair, a tradition now continued every fall at its new location.
For more information or with any questions, contact SBHistorical@gmail.com.
