BRUNSWICK, Maine — Joshua Chamberlain is, perhaps, Maine's favorite son.
A hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, his 20th Maine regiment helped turn the tide of the Civil War.
At the Joshua Chamberlain Museum in Brunswick, curators with the Pejepscot History Center maintain the general's home, where he and his family lived during the war and after, as he became president of nearby Bowdoin College before successfully running for governor.
On a Wednesday in August, a guide led curious visitors through the home which he said, looked almost exactly as it did when the Chamberlains resided there.
"We have a wonderful collection of artifacts, and we have those through the generosity of the Chamberlain family," the guide told the small group.
Indeed a look around the room reveals portraits, faded books, swords displayed above the office fireplace, and Chamberlain's Medal of Honor.
The meaning behind the nation's most revered service award cannot be matched but, in opposite corners of the room, two pieces stopped each visitor in their tracks.
More than 40 years ago, Chamberlain's granddaughter donated the general's boots and saddle. He rode the saddle atop his beloved horses, including Charlemagne.
The boots carried him through the Pennsylvania hills, including Little Round Top in July of 1863, where he ordered a famed bayonet charge that repelled rebel forces and helped change the course of the Civil War.
The right boot's instep still has a patch; a repair job after Chamberlain was shot through the foot in 1864.
To the untrained eye, the pieces appear to be in decent shape for their age. But Larissa Vigue Picard, the museum's executive director has been raising money to hire a restoration expert; to better preserve the items on display.
She estimated the cost would be around $18,000.
"It's important to keep them available to the public, whether they're folks in state or people from away that are visiting so that they can look at these objects and appreciate them as symbols and real artifacts of that time, that era, and that war that was so significant to our country," Picard said.
Anyone interested in donating to the preservation effort can do so here.