Greenwood Historical Society

04/02/2026

A message from our president about upcoming activities:

Hello friends and members of Greenwood Historical Society,

Spring is here, or at least trying to get here, and the Greenwood Historical Society is gearing up for a full season of activity. We plan on being open all Saturdays (excluding July 4) and we will have exhibits relating to our nations 250th birthday. We also have three presentations slated for the summer!

Our first presentation will be a general overview of Greenwood’s History; covering the settlement of Patch Mountain, the rise and fall of Greenwood City, to the creation of the eventual town center of Locke’s Mills. It will also cover some of Greenwood’s more notable citizens, its manufacturing history, and other areas of interest as well as some fun facts.

Our second presentation will be a continuation of Blaine Mills; “The Neighborhoods of Greenwood Maine” series. We will take an in-depth look at the Howe Hill Road Neighborhood from its beginnings to its present state. It’ll cover the histories of the homesteads and the families that lived at them including the L.L. Bean homestead.

Our third presentation will be a panel of some of Greenwood’s oldest residents telling stories and answering questions about the “good ol days”. It’ll be a great chance for new residents to learn how Greenwood “used to be” from the people who grew up here.

We are actively recruiting six people for the panel. If any of you are interested, or might know someone who would be interested in speaking, please email me and I will be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.

More information coming soon!

Thank you,
Andrew Wheeler
President; Greenwood Historical Society

02/16/2026

Many of you have likely seen the recent article in the Sun Journal/Bethel Citizen on the struggles of small historical societies. The following statement is a response by our Board of Trustees:

A recent article in the Sun Journal/Bethel Citizen described some of the difficulties many small historical societies are facing. The work that small historical societies do is essential to preserving our collective heritage, and so we are happy to see these challenges receiving media coverage. We hope that it will inspire some readers to visit, support, or join their town’s historical society.

Unfortunately, we feel that the framing of the article may have given some readers the impression that the Greenwood Historical Society, which was briefly mentioned but not contacted for the article, is struggling just to survive. We want to reassure our community that this is not the case.

We are a small organization with a limited budget, but we are doing much more than just hanging on. Every year we put on a series of four or five fun and usually well-attended programs and host open houses on Saturdays throughout the summer. We published four books in the past decade and are continuing with a series of “neighborhood histories” written by our late founder Blaine Mills. We have extensive photograph collections, all very well-organized and cataloged, and which we are partnering with the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society to bring online soon.

We extend a warm welcome to anyone who would like to learn more about what we do, to donate, or to get involved. You may find us on Facebook or at greenwoodhistorical.org.

Andrew Wheeler, President; Susan V***a, Vice President, Jim Bennett, Secretary; Julia Bennett, Treasurer, Will Chapman, Butch Fuller, Donna Wheeler, Trustees.

08/29/2025

Please join us on Wednesday, September 3, at 7 p.m. at the old Town Hall on Main Street in Locke's Mills for a program by Will Chapman on the history of the Richardson Hollow neighborhood. The Society has just published the second book in a series on Greenwood neighborhoods, researched by the late Blaine Mills. The Richardson Hollow book, along with the previously published Patch Mountain neighborhood book, will be available for purchase for $12 each at the meeting, and from the Greenwood Town Office and the Bethel and Greenwood Historical Societies after that.

07/30/2025

Check out this video of a visit to Patch Mountain, featuring Colista Morgan, Evelyn Cole Tamminen, and others in 1991!

"Pete Lenz Presents: Touring Patch Mountain with Colista Morgan, Evelyn Cole Tamminen, Artland Rogers et al." This video was recorded by and produced by Pete...

11/12/2024

It is with great sadness that the Greenwood Historical Society shares news of the passing of Blaine Mills. Blaine provided the impetus for the Greenwood Historical Society in 1979 and was among its founding members. For more than four decades Blaine worked tirelessly to gather information and photographs pertaining to Greenwood’s history, which he meticulously organized; put together programs and slideshows for society members and the general public; volunteered countless hours helping to maintain the society’s property; and assisted hundreds of researchers and genealogists.

In addition to his work in behalf of the GHS, Blaine served the community in many other ways, including laying out and maintaining for many years the trails in the Maggie Ring Forest. His contributions to our community were enormous and he will be greatly missed.

Please hold Blaine and his family in your thoughts. At this time there is no service planned. We will update with any new announcements.

09/13/2024

You can now order your copy of Blaine Mills' history of Patch Mountain online!

Patch Mountain was the first neighborhood in Township No. Four—which became the town of Greenwood—to be settled. The first settlers had a hard row to hoe. They could raise and grow their food, but money was hard to come by. A number of early settlers could not make their payments to the grantees...

08/17/2024

For several decades, Blaine Mills has been compiling histories of the homesteads and the families that lived at them in Greenwood’s many neighborhoods. These histories have been available in three-ring binders at the Greenwood Historical Society’s museum in Locke’s Mills.

In order to make these more accessible to the general public, the Greenwood Historical Society has embarked on a project of publishing these neighborhood histories as a series of short, affordable booklets. The first of these, the history of Patch Mountain, will be released at the Society's Annual Meeting on Wednesday, September 4 at 7:00 pm at the old Town Hall on Main Street in Locke's Mills. There will be a very brief business meeting, followed by a presentation on Patch Mountain history by Blaine Mills. Copies of the booklet will be available for $12.

07/14/2024

Today at the Greenwood Town Hall, Katherine Rhoda gave a presentation on her amazing collection of zither instruments. She explained the features of each one and how it was marketed, playing a few sample tunes on most. The heat likely kept some folks away, but we still ended up with over a dozen fascinated listeners, and we hope to have Katherine back for another presentation next year. She was an outstanding speaker and performer!

07/08/2024

Thank you to Rose Lincoln of Bethel Citizen for shining the spotlight on Susan V***a, GHS trustee and one of the hardworking volunteers who keeps us going!

GREENWOOD — Susan V***a volunteers at The Greenwood Historical Society and The Locke Mills American Legion Unit 68 Where do you volunteer? Right now, I’m actively involved with American Legion Auxiliary Unit 68 in Locke Mills and the Greenwood Historical Society. I volunteered with the Greenwood...

05/23/2024

A great opportunity to learn about the history of small water power. Greenwood was once the home of numerous small dams and water-powered mills.

The Mahoosuc Land Trust and Museums of the Bethel Historical Society are partnering to present “The Power of Water,” a film about the work of Bob King, who has spent his adult life resurrecting derelict small dams and bringing them back to life. The film discusses how water power was once the economic engine of New England. Bob believes that select ones, restored correctly, could play an important role in a sustainable energy source for the future.

11/27/2023

Greenwood Town Reports are now available online!