About Bradley

Bradley is one of the larger (land mass) municipalities in the Southern part of Penobscot County.  The Penobscot River forms the town’s western boundary, the Town of Milford forms the northern bounty, and the towns of Eddington and Clifton form the southern boundaries and it is bounded on the east by the Town of Amherst and Township 32 of Hancock County.  Bradley was incorporated in 1834, with lumbering and sawmilling as the principal industries.  It was named for Bradly Blackman, an early settler.

The Town encompasses 51 square miles which includes over 33,000 of land, most of which is forested, and water.  Chemo Pond is positioned in the southeastern part, Blackman Stream, and Great Works Stream both rise near the southwest corner of the Town and cross it diagonally nearly parallel with each other.  Otter Stream winds a short distance through the town moving in and from the north and emptying into the Penobscot River.

Bradley with a population of just over 1500 is proud to be a bedroom community in which its residents live and play in town but travel out for work.  Bradley is also honored to be a host of several recreational opportunities which include a large parcel of Maine Department of Conservation Land which provides public access to hiking, snowmobiling, ATV, fishing, and hunting.  Bradley is also home to the Penobscot Experimental Forest which is managed by the University of Maine and the Maine Forest Service.  Over 1000 acres of land are dedicated to long-term research to enhance forestry education and to demonstrate how the timber needs of society are met from a working forest.

Also located in Bradley is the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, an event-based outdoor living history museum that preserves, demonstrates, and recreates Maine’s rich forestry and logging history.  The grounds of the museum feature an operating Maine Lombard, a covered bridge, a water wheel sawmill, many period-replicated buildings, and a dam/fishway.  Each spring the fishway is filled with sea-run alewives that make their way up the Penobscot River, Blackman Stream to Chemo Pond to spawn.

Bradley is situated on Maine Route 178, which allows easy access to Eddington, Brewer, Bangor, Milford, and Old Town in State Senate District 10 and State House District 26.