While celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Boothbay Railway Village will be laying some new track under the leadership of its new executive director, Margaret Hoffman.

It was in 1964 that founder George McEvoy won a bid upon the closing Freeport Station. He had the station moved on flatbed trucks to its present site on 15 acres of land on Route 27 in Boothbay.

A compulsive collector of railroad memorabilia, McEvoy had outgrown space at his parents’ house in Massachusetts and their summer cottage in Southport.

At age 27, McEvoy began to build and collect the houses, engines, track and rolling stock that became the Boothbay Railway Village.

In 1981 the property gained nonprofit status and was further developed by Director Bob Ryan who retired in May after 31 years.

Ryan is credited for adding infrastructure including the moving of the Boothbay Town Hall to the site, the construction of the antique auto exhibit, and other buildings, engines and rolling stock. During the same period, growth was seen in the management with added staff, volunteers and board members.

A graduate of the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Hoffman joined the staff as an assistant director two years ago. She had previously worked for the Maine Tourism Office and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. When she saw the opportunity to work with Ryan, she jumped on it.

Hoffman said she sees the village as different than other museums that exhibit valued artifacts from the past.

"It is an everyday museum," she said.

Hoffman hopes that the exhibits remind seniors of many of the ways they grew up and therefore convey that sense of the past to their own children and grandchildren.

"It is a very intergenerational experience,” she added. “If you don't know where you’ve been, it is hard to know where you're going. You have to learn from the past."

As far as her role is concerned, Hoffman said she believes that most of the infrastructure has been completed.

"Bob was the builder," Hoffman said. "The role of the director has been changing.”

She sees her major job as helping to document the collections already in place and to increase the programming opportunities. She hopes to add to community outreach with more live exhibits, lectures, school visits and family days. The town hall building now has an exhibit of outboard motors that will be accompanied by a four-part lecture series beginning this week.

Hoffman said that the board of directors has recently developed a strategic plan which includes expanded programming plus an extension of fundraising activities including efforts to raise money for a new floor on the antique auto exhibit building. She also hopes to strengthen relations with other statewide train enthusiasts and organizations.

"We need to diversify our funding sources," she said. The museum currently relies on donations, memberships, and receipts from tickets and gift store purchases as well as contributions from the McEvoy Foundation.

Hoffman credits her experience with the Girl Scouts and the College of the Atlantic with her interest in working with nonprofit organizations. She and her husband live in Southport.