Ashland R.R. Station Museum Open For Summer

The Ashland Railroad Station Museum, one of the best preserved railroad stations in the state, opened for its summer season on July 4. The station was built in 1869 for the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, then moved and renovated in 1891 for the Concord & Montreal Railroad. It was an active passenger station for nine decades though 1959, when passenger service to Ashland ended. The station was purchased from the Boston & Maine Railroad the following year by Joseph Curley, a railroad buff, and given to the Ashland Historical Society by his widow Vera Curley in 1980. The building was restored to its 1891 appearance and renovated for use as a museum and meeting place in 1997-98. It has been open to the public as a railroad museum since 1999. The Society celebrated its 150th birthday last fall with an appropriate party. (Items from the celebration are still for sale at the Museum.)

The Museum will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays in July and August. Admission is free, although donations are gratefully accepted.
Because of the ongoing pandemic, visitors will be asked to wear face masks this summer. The museum is located at 69 Depot Street in Ashland village, on Route 132 about a half mile south of its junction with Routes 3 and 25 in downtown Ashland.

(The Society’s three other museums will be closed this summer, because of the social distancing requirements in the small spaces of the Pauline E. Glidden Toy Museum and the Whitten House, and a recatologing project in the Whipple House Museum.)