About the Museum

In January of 2009 a group of retired and ex-navy personnel, museum professionals, and interested persons assembled to see about establishing a museum and retaining the memorial gardens at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine (NASB) since the base was about to close in two years.  The group determined that this should be done to educate our citizens and future generations about the significance of NASB to the Brunswick area, and indeed to the state of Maine, so this vital part of our heritage would not be lost.  It then set about incorporating, drafting its bylaws, developing its business plan and obtaining it’s 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. An organizational Board of Directors was established to undertake these operations.

Our name became the Brunswick Naval Museum and Memorial Gardens.

The Museum’s purposes are to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the history of naval airborne patrol, especially the history of NASB and naval units based in Maine; and to maintain a memorial to those service members who gave their lives in service to their country.  To that end we will establish and maintain museum facilities, maintain the memorial gardens, collect and preserve artifacts, photographs, documents and other materials pertaining to that history, and mount ongoing educational activities including exhibits, research, publications, seminars, workshops, lectures and outreach programming.  We will also provide a place for veterans to meet and get referrals to or information about community and veterans’ services.

We are a membership organization and any person, organization or corporation desiring to support and/or promote the purposes of the Museum is eligible for membership.  Once we are firmly established, a meeting will be held annually to elect members of the Board of Directors that will govern the museum and memorial gardens. The Board members are elected from the membership and serve for a term of three years.  The Board in turn elects its officers from among its membership.

We decided to obtain the base Chapel and surrounding grounds as the primary location to house the museum and veterans’ center.  The Memorial Gardens are already in place there and the chapel building has an abundant amount of room for exhibits, meetings, a library and educational programming. The Chapel grounds currently exhibit a four-engine P-3 “Orion” patrol aircraft, soon to be joined by its historic predecessor, a P-2 “Neptune”.   Unfortunately, the Chapel building will not be available to us until it is brought up to 2013 building code requirements. 

In view of this, the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, owner of Brunswick Landing, has provided us two excellent rooms in the recently built, Hangar 6 to get started, charging us only a monthly utility and maintenance fee of $100.  This will provide us visibility and a base of operations until we are able to move forward with the acquisition of the former Chapel.