Visit the Historic Home of Civil War Hero Joshua Chamberlain in Brunswick, Maine

Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain was a quiet college professor when the Civil War began, but before it was over he became one of the Union's most celebrated officers - the hero of Little Round Top at Gettysburg and the man selected to accept Robert E. Lee's formal surrender at Appomattox.

After the war, Chamberlain returned to Brunswick, Maine and his teaching position at Bowdoin College. He was elected to four terms as Governor of the state of Maine and, later, became president of Bowdoin.

With the release of the book The Killer Angels, the movie Gettysburg, and the PBS documentary series The Civil War, Chamberlain's notoriety has grown significantly in recent decades. With the rise of his fame came a concerted effort to preserve his home on Maine Street in the center of town. The building had fallen into disrepair by the early 1980s, when it was purchased by the Pejepscot Historical Society for preservation.

The Society has done a great deal to bring the building - which had been broken into individual apartments over the years - back to the glory of its time as the Chamberlain family home. The large first-floor library, with its red wallpaper, contains Chamberlain documents and memorabilia such as a Civil War bugle. The parlor floor, with alternating light and dark wood strips, has been painstakingly refinished, along with a uniquely-painted trompe l'oeil ceiling. The dining room features reproduction wallpaper, recreated in minute detail from scraps of the original. A magnificent spiral staircase twists its way from the front foyer to the second floor.

The second floor features a room that makes this house especially interesting to history lovers - the Longfellow Parlor. In the 1830s, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his wife lived in this same house - before Chamberlain purchased it. At the time, the rooms in which the Longfellows lived were on the first floor. A building renovation by Chamberlain in the 1870s elevated them a level, and a new ground floor was built. Records indicate that Longfellow himself, while living in the house, wallpapered the parlor. In 2000, a strip of that original wallpaper - which Chamberlain was known to have liked and kept on the walls for decades - was uncovered and reproduced. Now the entire room appears as it did at that time.

The Chamberlain house is filled with items from his Civil War action - including his boots, sword and hat - and correspondence about his service. Chamberlain was very active in post-war writing and speaking, and Grand Army of the Republic, making numerous return trips to Gettysburg . Thirty years after the battle, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his command actions on the second day of fighting.

The house also includes memorabilia from Chamberlain's time in politics, including a "Governor's Room" on the first floor.

Restoration continues on the house. A number of small apartments are still rented in the rear of the building as a means of generating revenue for upkeep and restoration, and the goal is the eventual conversion of that space as well.

The Joshua Chamberlain house is located at 226 Maine Street in Brunswick. A large statue of Chamberlain stands on the green at the center of town. The museum and gift shop are open in the summer months, and guided tours are given for a nominal fee.