BETHEL — The Museums of the Bethel Historical Society opened for the regular summer season on Thursday, July 2.

At the 1821 Robinson House, the exhibit “In the Field and on the Homefront: Bethel During the Civil War” will remain on view through 2015. An impressive collection of Maine-related Civil War insignia and memorabilia have recently been added to this display. Also at the Robinson House is “Gould Through the Years: Selections from the Academy Archives.”

A new, expanded exhibit about Bethel and the surrounding area will open in two second-floor galleries on Thursday, Aug. 20.

On the first floor of the Robinson House, the Museum Shop features items inspired by the Bethel Historical Society’s museum and research library collections, as well as books, gifts, and special publications associated with past and current exhibits. Many of the books currently in stock relate to the history of area towns, logging and lumbering, architecture, decorative arts, Native Americans, the White Mountains, railroads, the Civil War, art, and crafts. Among available gift offerings are DVDs and CDs; maps; postcards; cross-stitch kits (including a reproduction of an 1841 sampler in the Society’s collection); children’s activity books, old-fashioned folk toys and Roy-Toy log building sets; Sunday River covered bridge mouse pads, note cards, pins and magnets; folk art paintings and prints in the style of Rufus Porter and Jonathan D. Poor; paintings by local artists; and craft work by local artisans. An area of the Shop is also devoted to books and gifts on sale at substantially reduced prices.

Next door at the 1813 Dr. Moses Mason House, special “Yankee Ingenuity Museum Trail” tours of the nine period rooms will take place Thursday through Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m. Yankee Ingenuity refers to the creative, innovative and adaptive nature of those living and working in New England. Faced with the harsh conditions of the Northeast, they became enterprising, self-reliant and gained “know-how.”

Twelve museums across Maine have come together in 2015 to form the Yankee Ingenuity Museum Trail. Each museum is providing special tours and/or exhibits to help visitors experience the various ways Mainers and fellow New Englanders used Yankee Ingenuity to make their lives better.

This summer’s special exhibition at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society is located on the first floor of the former Mason barn. Entitled “Secluded Glens and Noble Landscapes: Traditional White Mountain Art Recaptured,” the display is based on a highly popular art show mounted at the Society in 2013.

This second exhibition features more than 20 19th century White Mountain landscapes, plus a large selection of outstanding contemporary paintings in the Hudson River School manner by nationally-recognized plein air artists Erik Koeppel and Lauren Sansaricq of Jackson, N.H. The contemporary White Mountain paintings in the summer exhibit are available for purchase, with a portion of each sale supporting the Bethel Historical Society’s general operations. The art exhibit is free and open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday until the end of August.