RANGELEY — Orgonon, the Wilhelm Reich Museum, Dodge Pond Road, will open for the season on Wednesday, July 1. It is a “Blue Star Museum,” which means active duty service members and their families will be welcome free of charge during the summer when the museum is open.

Few places in the world combine the intellectual fascination and raw natural beauty of Orgonon, home of one of the 20th century’s most controversial figures, Austrian born physician-scientist Wilhelm Reich.

Now maintained as the Wilhelm Reich Museum, Orgonon is an historic site and nature preserve comprising 175 acres of fields and woodland, a system of trails, a conference center and the Orgone Energy Observatory.

The Wilhelm Reich Museum represents the life and work of  Reich (1897-1957) and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The collections of the museum contain period furnishings, scientific instruments, paintings and works of art on paper, photographic materials, personal items, textiles and library materials.

The library contains several thousand published volumes, journals and reports. Forty-six original paintings by Reich, several original drawings and a Kaethe Kollwitz woodcut, scientific charts and an original blueprint are also in the collections.

Children can explore a hands-on discovery room. And the observatory roof provides spectacular vistas of the region’s open skies, lakes and surrounding countryside.

Reich’s tomb, with its bronze portrait bust, is in a forest clearing nearby. A bookstore/gift shop gives access to all Reich’s published work.

The observatory is open in July and August from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and in September from 1 to 5 Saturdays only. Special tours are available year-round by appointment. FMI: 207-864-3443, [email protected] or www.wilhelmreichtrust.org.