Exit 182: When Galen Cole was in WWII and survived a direct hit, he promised God to leave his community a better place. So in 1989, after 50 years of running Cole’s Express trucking, he opened Cole Land Transportation Museum for educating children, preserving history and honoring veterans.
The 200 vehicles show how land transportation pioneers accomplished remarkable feats: plowed snow, fought fires, planted crops, hauled freight and harvested the forest. You can see an 1840 bike, a kid’s pull car, motorcycles and the largest collection of snow plows. Look for the 1842 fox hunting carriage, the fire engine that was pulled by horses, to potato diggers, haying equipment and a 1926 model T Ford which converted to a snowmobile.
Find out that the Stanley Steamer was invented in Maine by twins Freelan and Francis Stanley. Learn that the reason dalmatian dogs were kept near fire trucks was to keep the horses calm. Try to find the $99.50 Sears and Roebuck model T tractor which came in a crate.
On the grounds is the State of Maine WWII Veteran’s and Vietnam Memorials and Maine Military Order of Purple Heart Monument, and a room with a military collection honoring Cole‘s WWII Fifth Armored Division.
Location: Cole Land Transportation Museum, 405 Perry Road,
Bangor, ME 04401
Hours: Open Seasonally, May 1 to Nov 11
9 AM to 5 PM, 7 days a week
Tel: 207-990-3600
colemuseum.org
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: visitbangormaine.com