BETHEL – The Bethel Historical Society’s Regional History Center attracts several thousand visitors each year to its facilities and programming.

During 2003 visitors came from many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Belize, the West Indies, Switzerland, Germany and Mexico. Visitors also came from 40 states.

The Dr. Moses Mason House, a period house museum with Rufus Porter murals, continues to draw those who wish to learn how people lived in early 19th century Maine.

The Eva M. Bean Research Library draws those who want to do historical and family research. Courses this year included one on New England history and another on wood and woods in relation to one of the temporary exhibits.

Special event offerings included the annual Heritage Day, the St. Never’s Day Sale, the Fourth of July, Community Picnic, Sudbury Canada Days, Christmas with the Masons and New Year’s Bethel.

The 2003 series of lectures included the history of Maine transportation (Cumberland and Oxford Canal, railroads, Maine-made automobiles, the steamer “Portland” and aviation in Bethel). Three more exhibits (historic Bethel area signs, 150 years of railroading from the Atlantic and St. Lawrence and an introduction to Bethel’s past) helped inform visitors of the area’s past.

Plans are under way to develop new exhibits and programming to attract more visitors when summer begins. New courses will also be offered later in the year.

Nearly 1,200 members strong, the Bethel Historical Society, founded in 1966, is western Maine’s largest and most comprehensive full-time historical agency, dedicated to collecting, preserving and interpreting the regional past for present and future generations.

Since 1974, the society has operated from its 14 Broad St. headquarters, the Dr. Moses Mason House. In 1999 it opened the O’Neil Robinson House (next door at 10 Broad St.) to the public for an expanded exhibit program, museum shop space and administrative offices.

For more information call 824-2908, 1-800-824-2910, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.bethelhistorical.org. Additional information can also be obtained by checking its web-site: The mailing address is P.O. Box 12, Bethel, ME 04217-0012.