Telephone Museum — Attraction in Ellsworth

We saw the sign for The Telephone Museum as we were traveling from Bar Harbor on Friday, April 3, 2015. As luck would have it, Mr. David Johnson was at the site and indicated it was closed; however, he gladly opened the building up for us so I, my wife, and my eight year-old daughter could see the interesting exhibits. He then ensured my daughter was totally immersed in the old time operator experiences, plugging switchboard cables and flipping bell switches. We ended up spending almost two hours there and thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Thompson’s comprehensive explanations about the various equipment and his vibrant overview of the progress made in the communications field over the years. You could tell the restoration efforts of the equipment and exhibits were labors of love by the 15+ members of the museum’s organization. Thank you Mr. Thompson for taking the time to show us...

These guys are awesome! For a museum that many might overlook as esoteric or too specialized - just go here! We got the most amazing tour from four of the gentlemen that volunteer at the museum and it was so far beyond expectations. Yes there are telephones everywhere, and they work - but learning the history of how the systems came into existence and operating them through each time period was fascinating. The curators have a marvelous sense of humor; both kids and adults will delight at playing with the exhibits. The museum hours are limited but if necessary give them a ring in advance to schedule a tour, you...

The telephone museum team has done an absolutely amazing job of preserving history of how we communicate in a fun and clever way. The knowledgable volunteers can answer the myriad of questions thrown their way and walked the tour through everything from basic development of the phone up to and including the number 5 crossbar.

I enjoyed seeing the older phones, how ingenuity shaped the transition from human based operators to major exchanges, and learned a bunch of neat tidbits of how things came to be.

Would...