WOODSTOCK – Woodstock Historical Society Curator Larry Billings notes this is his 25th of service. He started the society museum in what is now the Town Hall conference room and has seen it grow into the present facility on Main Street, with one of the largest collections in the area.

When the museum moved into its present location, the inside of the building was unfinished and older men in the society who had been carpenters worked on it for years.

“I had to keep moving the exhibits around to keep ahead of them,” said Billings. “It could be trying at times for us.”

Then the society received its biggest gift, a collection of furniture from the estate of local author George Allen England. Billings said, “It became the nucleus for our now extensive collection of antiques and local memorabilia.”

Residents continue donating artifacts from the town, and Billings has donated art and antiques.

Billings relates his favorite exchange with a visitor. A man from a large city in Massachusetts came into the museum and went over everything with a fine tooth comb. When he was about to leave, Billings said, “I think we have a good collection for a small town, don’t you?” The visitor looked him right in the eye and exclaimed, “Sir, you have a fine collection for a city.”

In recent years the society has added the clothespin sign lettered from the former Mann’s Mill, which manufactured clothespins.