RANGELEY — Orgonon, the Wilhelm Reich Museum on Dodge Pond Road, will open for the 2015 season on Wednesday, July 1.

Orgonon was home to one of the 20th century’s most controversial figures, Austrian-born physician and 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 museum represents the life and work of Wilhelm Reich 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 within the museum collections.

Children can explore a hands-on discovery room. The observatory roof provides 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 and gift shop gives access to all of Reich’s published work.

The observatory is open in July and August from Wednesday to Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays in September from 1 to 5 p.m.

Special tours are available year-round by appointment.

Orgonon is a Blue Star Museum, meaning active duty service members and their families will be welcomed free of charge during the summer months when the museum is open.

FMI: 207-864-3443, [email protected], www.wilhelmreichtrust.org.