Freeport Community Library, Freeport, Maine -- State / Local History and Genealogy Room

Freeport Community Library

10 Library Drive

Freeport, Maine 04032

(207) 865-3307

"Windows to the World"

My husband and I found this library on Oct. 16, 2016. It is hidden away, not on the main road, and looks like an old school or a barn with buildings on both sides. Since some of my pictures are rather dark, so I enlarged them because they are worth seeing. If you are ever in Freeport, I hope you stop in there, enjoy the building and catch your breath from shopping.

We entered the Library and were greeted by the trees. Reference desk to the left.

Large reading room.

Below are the seating areas.

A private porch meeting room! It is larger, but a patron was at a table behind me, so I moved up to take this. Imagine having a genealogy meeting here.

Lovely surprise to discover the Bartol Room a room that "houses the library's local and state history collection as well as genealogical resources." They also have the  Ancestry.com Library edition. What I would give to sit in there, look out the windows, and dream about ancestors or research. The librarian was very helpful and was into genealogy. Unfortunately, she won't be there if you go, because she is retiring next month. When I took these photos, she went to get the director who talked to me and showed me around.

 

Teen area.

The three photos below show how close you are to the woods. I was informed the architect is from Freeport and this was built on town land in 1997. The facility looks new, but it's hard to believe it is almost 20 years old.

B. H. Bartol Library, a Carnegie Library built in 1905

The old Freeport Library building is still owned by the town but is rented to an outlet store next to L. L. Bean (to the right). One reason they had to move was because there was never any parking for the patrons. If you've ever been to Freeport, you know the shopping district is often one huge parking lot.