The Davistown Museum is a tool, art, and regional history museum with locations in Liberty and Hulls Cove, ME. Its primary mission is the recovery, display, and interpretation of hand tools used in Maine and New England's maritime culture. To that end, it serves as an important clearinghouse for information on the history of hand tools and their roles in the early industries of Maine and New England and offers an extensive exhibit of hand tools in Liberty and on line. The museum also provides a forum for contemporary Maine artists to exhibit their work, creating a unique environment that juxtaposes tools, as both historical and sculptural objects, with a wide diversity of art forms in Liberty and the Hulls Cove Sculpture Garden. In addition, the museum strives to increase community awareness of and provide access to information on local, regional, Native American, and environmental history. Visitors to the Davistown Museum website will find an unprecedented wealth of resources, which include the complete text of museum publications; unpublished essays; photo tours of the entire museum at both sites; annotated inventories of holdings, including tools and art, many with photos, and library books; bibliographies, and the Maine Artists Guild Gallery website.
Upcoming events and exhibits: Calendar
Newsletters:
Spring 2007 (pdf)
Summer 2007 (pdf)
Winter 2005 (pdf)
Photo Tours:
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Davistown Museum photo tour Hulls Cove Sculpture Garden photo tour |
The Davistown Museum offers Exhibits and Information for exploration of early Maine/New England/American TOOLS and HISTORY and ART.
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In LIBERTY, visitors will find: |
Ongoing exhibits of:
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Eighteenth and nineteenth century hand tools |  |
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Contemporary and antiquarian art in the permanent collection and changing shows, creating a unique environment that juxtaposes tools, which can be experienced as both historical and sculptural objects, with conceptual, assemblage, abstract and traditional art. |  |
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Native American tools and artifacts |  |
Plus:
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The Center for the Study of Early Tools, with a library and accommodations for visitors interested in studying at the museum. |
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The Maine Artists Guild (MAG) Gallery, presenting work by contemporary Maine artists for sale. Participating artists include Alan Magee, John Whalley, Abby Shahn, Melita Westerlund, and many more. The actual gallery is in on the 2nd floor of the Liberty complex, and a virtual version can be accessed via the museum website. |  |
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A Children’s Corner, featuring activities for drop-in visitors and scheduled field trips. |
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Local history research room. |
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The Davistown Museum Café, offering hot and cold drinks, snacks, WiFi, an expansive porch with a lovely view of nearby hills, and a selection of used and new books to peruse and purchase. |
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In HULLS COVE (Bar Harbor), visitors will find:
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At its website, visitors will find:
The Davistown Museum also offers:
The Davistown Museum was founded in 1999 by H. G.“Skip” Brack, proprietor of and buyer for the Jonesport Wood Company, which includes Liberty Tool Company, the Hulls Cove, Tool Barn, and Captain Tinkham’s Emporium in Searsport. Brack’s search for and recovery of old woodworking tools, other hand tools, and antiques led to the discovery of historically significant signed and forge-welded edge tools, old paintings, Native American artifacts, and “accidental durable remnants,” which became the basis for the museum collections. Brack opened the museum in the historic building across the street from Liberty Tool
Company and named it for the Davistown Plantation, which became the towns of Montville (1807) and Liberty (1827). Numerous Maine artists have loaned or donated work to the Annual Art Exhibition. The original collections and the museum’s other offerings have grown considerably and consistently since its founding.
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The Davistown Museum building is located in Liberty, ME, across from Liberty Tool Company, about 15 miles west of Belfast and 30 miles west of Augusta. The office of the museum and Sculpture Garden is located in Hulls Cove, 75 miles northeast of Liberty, next to the Hulls Cove Tool Barn. Hulls Cove is a village of Bar Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. Correspondence and phone calls should be directed to the Hulls Cove address.
58 Main St/ Route 173
P.O. Box 346
Liberty, ME 04949
across the street from Liberty Tool Co.
Over Liberty Graphics Outlet
Office and Sculpture Garden
17 Breakneck Rd.
Hulls Cove, ME 04644
Adjacent to Hulls Cove Tool Barn
Liberty:
Open Summer: Wed.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 11-5
Fall/Winter/Spring: Weekends Only
Always: By Appointment
Call to confirm days and hours: 207-589-4900
Hulls Cove: Open Daily Sunrise to Sunset
While the main building is in Liberty, ME, all correspondence and phone calls should be addressed to the Hulls Cove office, which is open year round.
For questions/comments regarding tool identification or other museum matters, please contact:
H. G. Skip Brack, Curator
at curator@davistownmuseum.org
or the below address/phone numbers.
For questions/comments regarding education programs, internships, or publicity, please contact:
Judith Bradshaw Brown
Director of Education
at judith@davistownmuseum.org
or the below address/phone numbers.
Beth Sundberg, Web and Office Manager
Sett Balise, Technical Director (this is who you e-mail if you find something broken on the site)
Davistown Museum Office
P.O. Box 144
Hulls Cove, ME 04644
(207) 288-5126 Fax (207) 288-2725
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H. G. SKIP BRACK FOUNDER AND CURATOR |
H. G. Skip Brack founded the Davistown Museum, in which he takes great pleasure sharing his collections and knowledge of tools, art, and history, and serves as its curator. The museum grew out of his highly successful Jonesport Wood Company, which includes the Liberty Tool Company, Hulls Cove Tool Barn, and Captain Tinkham’s Emporium. He is the primary contributor to all facets of the museum and welcomes questions about and contributions and responses to any aspect of the museum’s missions. His knowledge of early tools and Maine/New England maritime history makes him a sought after lecturer and consultant. He has presented his work at the Maine Historical Society, Bath Maritime Museum, Yarmouth Historical Society, Montpelier-The General Henry Knox Museum, the Atlantic Challenge Foundation, and other organizations.
Skip has done extensive research and writing on the history of tools and the science of iron and steel production. He has also researched and published his findings on environmental topics, with a focus on biologically significant chemical fallout. His many publications include The Registry of Maine Toolmakers, Hand Tools in History, Norumbega Reconsidered, Patterns of Noncompliance: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, and much of the text on the museum’s information-dense website. He is currently working on revising and completing the six volume museum publication series Hand Tools in History.
Skip holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. from the University of Colorado and taught English at the University of the Pacific. A native of Newton, MA, he now lives in Hulls Cove, with his wife, Judith Bradshaw Brown, and makes weekly trips to Liberty Tool Company and the museum, where they maintain an apartment, and he tends the museum most Saturdays and some Sundays. He enjoys traveling extensively in the United States and Europe, visiting tool museums and historical sites to research his interests. When not scouring New England for tools and other treasures or "slinging tools" in the Hulls Cove workshop, Brack enjoys collecting, curating, and hanging the museum exhibits; creating assemblages of "accidental durable remnants" for the Liberty Museum and Hulls Cove Sculpture Garden; reading volumes about tools, history, and ferrous metallurgy and writing about what he learns; and weed whacking the gardens.
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JUDITH BRADSHAW BROWN, EdD, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & PUBLICITY, GRANT-WRITER, et al |
Judith Bradshaw Brown, Ed.D., wears many hats in the Davistown Museum organization. With a doctorate in literacy education from the University of Maine, she is responsible for the education components of the museum, for which she created the Children’s Corner in Liberty and wrote Tools Teach: Learning the World Via the Study of Tools, a guide for teachers and students. She encourages teachers, parents, and students to contact her about ways in which the Davistown Museum can accommodate learning for all ages. As director of fundraising, Judith has written a number of funded grants for the museum and continues to seek funding sources. She writes publicity and performs many administrative and editorial tasks for museum operations. She is active in the larger museum community, currently serving on the board of Directors of Maine Archives and Museums and on the committee for New Century Museum Collections grants.
Preceding her doctoral studies, Judith received a B.A. in English from Rutgers University, a 5th Year in Teaching from the University of California at Hayward, and an MS in Education from the University of Southern Maine. She has taught students at all levels, from preschool through graduate school, from California to Maine. Previous to her retirement, she taught undergraduate education courses at the University of Maine at Farmington, master's level courses at outreach locations for UM Orono, and an on line course in writing for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Before that, she taught high school English for 17 years at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, ME. Her essays, articles, and poetry have appeared in numerous publications, and she has presented her work at conferences throughout the United States.
Judith is currently retired from full-time teaching, living in Bar Harbor, Maine, with her husband, Skip Brack, where she helps run the Davistown Museum and tool business. She enjoys reading, writing, making art, teaching writing and literature to two local homeschoolers, and creating and maintaining the flower gardens in the museum's Hulls Cove (Bar Harbor) sculpture gardens.
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BETH SUNDBERG OFFICE AND WEB MANAGER |
Beth A. Sundberg, MS, has managed the Jonesport Wood Company office and Web-related activities in Hulls Cove for many years. She has also created and maintained the museum website, which originated over ten years ago to store and share Skip Brack’s research and writing and preceded the Davistown Museum, and she types Skip’s manuscripts.
Beth graduated from the University of Vermont with a BA in Math and from Purdue University with an MS degree in Computer Science Management Information Systems. She has worked as a computer programmer, programmer analyst, and scientific software engineer. She has been an instructor of computer science at Allegheny College and has taught as part of her own consulting business. She currently has her own consulting business, working with databases, web design, business applications, and digital images.
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SETT BALISE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR |
Sett joined the Davistown Museum staff in the summer of 2007. He lives in the cabin on the museum site in Liberty and tends the museum when it is open. Using his extensive computer skills developed through working with hundreds of people on thousands of machines, he completely redesigned the old website. Sett also assists Curator Skip Brack in his research on tools, ferrous metallurgy, and other topics. His business, Silicon Valet, builds, services and repairs personal computers. He will be on staff year-round, updating, creating, and maintaining the Web components of the museum and Jonesport Wood Company during the winter. The museum's eclectic blend of information mirrors his own interests as an oil painter, potter, martial artist and aspiring armchair anthropologist.
We are happy to report that we have received some positive feedback and publicity. For those interested in others' views of us:
Associated Press News Release on Liberty Tool (CNN)
Boston Globe Article on The Davistown Museum (Boston Globe)
Yankee Travel Magazine: Travel Guide to New England, Editor's choice 2006, Liberty Tool Company and the Davistown Museum. pg. 162.
Stuff, stuff and more stuff: Make Liberty's Davistown Museum a summer destination by Nancy McGinnis, Summer in Maine: Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel advertising supplement, June 16, 2005, pg. 86-87.
The Best Tool Shed by Hilary Nangle, Yankee, December 2004, 68(10), pg. 58 - 61.
Beyond 295: Tool Town by David Tyler, Port City Life, September/October 2004. 6(5). pg. 38-39.
A tool museum was never this much fun by Mark Odom, Belfast Village Soup, May 31, 2001.
The Liberty Tool Co. is featured in the article "The Culture of Cultch" with photographs by Tillman Crane in Down East: The Magazine of Maine, May 2003, 49(10), pg. 68-71.
An illustration of one of our planes was used in Heather Palmer's February 2004 article: "The simplest tools tell a story, too! Part II" (Living with Antiques: The New England Antiques Journal Supplement. 22(8). pg. 26-28.)
