The Boonsboro Historical Society and its volunteers would like to express our sadness at the passing of our dear friend and colleague Douglas Garns Bast yesterday.
His family was deeply rooted in the history of our town and Doug’s knowledge of local history and the Civil War was vast and insatiable. He spent much of his adult life at the helm of the Bast of Boonsboro furniture store, in operation for 174 years. The store closed in 2011 when Doug retired and was able to focus his energies entirely on the activity that had been his life-long passion – expanding his collection of historical artifacts from around the world. Many in our town (and well beyond) visited his fascinating Boonsborough Museum of History at 113 N. Main Street and enjoyed the treat of a personally curated visit over the past 46 years of its existence. Doug had a well-earned reputation as “Boonsboro’s Historian”.
Understanding the need to ensure his collections were preserved, Doug established a non-profit organization in recent years to oversee them and ensure they can beo be shared with future generations. Those who would like to help support these efforts may make donations to the Douglas G. Bast Museum of History and Preservation, Inc. at 113 N. Main St., Boonsboro, MD.
Doug was one of the 15 original founders of the Boonsboro Historical Society in March of 1970 and was a key figure in its successful operation over the years, including the creation of the Boonesborough Days festival. In 2012 he co-authored a book on Boonsboro, which featured many photos of small town life in Boonsboro. He also served our town as assistant mayor, town council member and police commissioner and volunteered as an ambulance driver. Doug was a Naval Reserve Veteran and a long-time member of Clopper-Michael Post 10 American Legion in Boonsboro.
In 2019, the Historical Society interviewed Doug as part of its Pass it On program. In reality, we could have sat together for weeks and not been able to record all of Doug’s knowledge, but we were pleased to be able to preserve a few of his thoughts on growing up in Boonsboro and important events in the Civil War.
We hope you will take time to listen and also to learn more about our town and support the preservation of its history.
Pass It On: https://boonsborohistoricalsociety.org/doug-bast-boonsboro-historian/
CLICK on the photos below to expand.
