The Wilson Museum was founded by Dr. John Howard Wilson who spent most of his youth in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Nantucket and came first to Castine with his mother, Cassine Cartwright Wilson, in 1891.
By 1906, Wilson had a Ph.D. in geology, was married and had a summer home on Nautilus Island, across the harbor from his mother’s house in Castine.
In 1921 Mrs. Wilson gave the west end of her lot to build a museum for Dr. Wilson’s collections. Three other buildings were added to the property in the late 1960s: The John Perkins House, Blacksmith Shop and a small exhibit building.
E.S.N.S. 'Echo' staff, Castine, 1900