BOOTHBAY HARBOR: Many of the harbors along the coast of Maine were once thriving with commercial fishing activity, but now one can hardly see any evidence of this in many of them. One of the most noted commercial fishing harbors was Boothbay Harbor back in the late 1800s right up into the mid-1900s. This harbor was bustling, not only with commercial fishing enterprises, but also with ship and boatbuilders. Today, some of these coastal harbors have become more of a tourist destination, but still have a good presence of commercial activity. Boothbay Harbor fits that description with a number of commercial lobster boats working out of the harbor, lobster dealers housed on the east side, but there are also several large motels and restaurants covering both sides of the harbor. One of these hotels is Brown’s Wharf, which has its original roots in the commercial fishing industry so I sat down with Joan, Michelle and Tim to get the wharf’s history and how it evolved into one of Boothbay’s best motels.
From the “Industrial Journal,” for 4 September 1885: At Boothbay village J. C. Poole has a large fish-packing establishment where 2800 bbls. of mackerel were received up to August 26th. He owns four vessels and deals in all kinds of dry fish, besides mackerel. A large amount of repairing is done on the Townsend Marine Railway here, ninety vessels having been taken out between March 5th and August 26th. Wm. M. Sawyer has a ship chandlery store and a sail loft. He deals extensively in vessel property, wreck material, etc., occupying two floors each 105 x 75 feet. R. G. Ingraham, in connection with his marine hardware store, manufactures small anchors, ice tools and ship iron work. J. H. Lake is engaged in ship plumbing, tin roofing and the manufacture of sheet iron stoves and tinware. The Boothbay House, John E. Knight proprietor, is a finely furnished and popular hotel. The Weymouth House also furnishes excellent accommodations, and has a capacity for forty to fifty guests. With a general revival of business Boothbay, having so many natural advantages, would take a long step in advance and attain greater prominence than ever in our list of seaport towns.
And for 16 September 1887:
AROUND BOOTHBAY HARBOR.
The harbor of Boothbay is among the most noted on the coast of Maine. It is immediately connected with the ocean, from which it is protected by Ocean Point and Spruce Point on the east, and Squirrel and other islands which form the entrance. It is noted for its large size and deep water. Five steamers run here in the summertime from Bath, Portland and the Kennebec, and it is expected that a new steamer will be built in Bath this winter to go on the route next season. Within a radius of five miles from Boothbay village there are now over four hundred summer cottages and five hotels, and the prospect is now good for very active building operations in preparation for another season. Spruce Point, comprising two hundred acres on the east side of the harbor, has recently been purchased by a syndicate comprising S. C. Chase of Boston, two of the Coburn heirs of Skowhegan, Messrs. Pooler and Marston, and Col. Spaulding of Portland. This very desirable property is now being surveyed into lots, and a hotel with a capacity to accommodate from 200 to 250 guests is now being commenced and will be completed in season for the summer business next year. A steamboat wharf will be built this fall.
Ocean Point, across Linnekins Bay, has recently been purchased by a large syndicate of wealthy parties who will immediately commence building operations. Five springs giving a large flow of pure water are found on this island.
It is understood that Mouse Island is bonded in the interest of the New York Yacht Club, who contemplate making this locality their eastern location.
At the head of Linnekins Bay, two miles east of Boothbay harbor, Thomas Boyd has built six cottages, all of which have been rented this season. He will build two more cottages and a boarding-house this fall.
The Boothbay House, J. Ed. Knight proprietor, will be raised one story and will have a mansard roof. It will have a capacity to receive sixty-five guests next year.
- Nickerson & Sons, wholesale dealers in fish and fishing outfits, Boothbay, own 7 fishing vessels and have imported 14,000 hogsheads of salt this year. Their catch of codfish this year will be from 11,000 to 12,000 quintals. In the town of Boothbay from 150,000 to 200,000 tons of ice are cut, and at the dry-dock about 125 vessels are repaired yearly.
Samuel Boyd deals extensively in doors, windows, blinds, mouldings and builder’s hardware. The increase of the summer travel hither has stimulated trade very notably in some lines. A. W. Lewis now does quite a jobbing business in fruit and reports a very large retail trade the past summer.
There seems now to be a brilliant outlook for Boothbay and surroundings in the future, as regards its summer-resort interests. Nearby are the sea-girt towns of Southport and Georgetown, and the noted Pemaquid Point in Bristol, which are attracting the attention of capitalists. M. D. McKown makes some very fine boats at Boothbay, and is now building a boat of 10 tons for carrying water to vessels in the harbor.
The first lobster boat race of each season takes place at Boothbay Harbor and the racers always gather at Brown’s Wharf, where they take up at least the entire face dock and a number of the rooms. This gathering has quite a reputation as being one of the best get togethers during the season. These get togethers used to be wild and last well into the night, but age has calmed that down some. Still, if you call to stay at Brown’s Wharf on the weekend of the lobster boat races, they will warn you that it might be a little noisy. Michelle Brown, who runs the office, added that many of the people coming, were coming just because of the lobster boat races.
The Brown’s have owned this wharf since around the mid-1940s, but Joan, the head of the family, was not quite sure the year. At that time, it was being operated as a sardine factory under the name of Neptune Canning, owned by Ted Leonard. Tim added, “There was a four story, big old sardine building there with cannery machines and all the processing machines.”
One reference said that for the most part sardine canning in Boothbay Harbor had disappeared by the mid-1930s. It added that Brown Brothers operated the last sardine factory in Boothbay. They had built a small factory in 1949, packing in round cans, and this closed in 1950.
On the wall in the dining room is an old photograph showing the old buildings. The building on the water was razed in 1966 and they built the first two stories with 24 rooms over-looking the harbor for the motel in 1967. Then in 1975 they added a two-story building running up to the road on the eastern side of the property. Ten years later, they added the third story on the waterfront section and the following year on the side section.
The building the houses the office, kitchen and dining room have been there as long as anyone could remember. Michelle added that this building had been added to several times over the years. Tim pointed to a room off the dining room, which they call the salt shed. In the old photograph it was the one with the red roof. He added, “The ships would come over from Europe full of salt and would unload the salt in facilities like this. Then they would take the salt fish back.”
The salt fish, which had been cured on flakes, went back to Europe and around the Mediterranean, down to the Caribbean, to the southern plantations and out west as it was being settled. It was one of the staple foods that would last since it was cured in salt.
The building housing the office, kitchen and dining room has gone through many changes. Tim explained, “Originally this structure here, I don’t know when but it used to be just picnic tables and a roof was put on at some point, probably late 50s or 60s. It had fiberglass corrugated roofing and then it had the aluminum windows that you would put on the outside of your house with the screens and all that. It was all open out here. Then this got rebuilt probably in the late 80s.”
That was the original dining area, where they served all sorts of seafood to the tourists and natives. Michelle added, “The bar was over there and then in the ‘90s it was moved to over there and the old salt shed was used as an extra dining room. Back in the ‘70s we had Irish people who would come over and play every night, big band Irish music. The place would be full, sort of like a night club.
“Our grandfather and two great uncles (Ed and Sereno and Chester), they started it, as Brown Brothers,” continued Michelle. “They were lobster and fish dealers and they would go up and down the coast into Canada and all the way to New York peddling fish and lobster. At one time they were the biggest lobster wholesalers in the country for a while. Then Sereno got out of it. After that Chester bought another business at Point Lookout on Long Island, a lobster business and a restaurant. So, he moved down there and they separated later. My Dad bought the people out as the years went by.”
Joan added, “At one time Sumner Sewall, Governor Sewall was part of this.”
Michelle continued, “Also there was a Judge Hurley who was part of it and they eventually bought him out. Dad bought everybody out, so he was the single owner. He was a visionary. He saw the future and was very good at making money on it. In the ‘80s he got out of the lobster business.”
Tom said, “In the meantime he bought into a fish business, where the Sea Pier used to be, Carter’s Wharf. He then let the lobster business slid and got out of that.”
“Douglas (Carter) and John Fish owned that when they sold out,” said Michelle. “Anyway, he had that for a few years and then he sold that out. He shifted back to here without the lobster business.”
The only difference today is that the restaurant has been closed for a couple of years, but they do offer a continental breakfast. Michelle explained, “In 2018 they changed the H2B visa and that put a crimp on us to get enough H2B skilled workers for here. It was difficult in 2019 to find enough staff to run this. We would get packed at night, 35 to 40 people. Then Covid came and we said, ‘What are we going to do? Well, we will offer breakfast.’ We couldn’t open anyway because of the restrictions. My dad used to say, for the restaurant it is 90% of the work 10% of the profit.”
The marina aspect of the business has always been a good part of the business and is very well maintained. Tim, who oversees the docks, said, “There has always been floats down there, but it got pushed out with finger floats around ’82 and it hasn’t changed any since then.”
The face dock is 310 feet in length and they can take up to a 195-footer, however they try not to as it blocks the view of the waterfront rooms. They have about 30 customers who rent space for the summer. With dock space hard to find in southern and mid-coast Maine these slips come at a premium. The docks remain in the water all year-around, but they do not let anyone on them until 15 May and they close it off 15 October. The problem during the winter is that the docks are open to the nor’west winds and they can be pretty bad much of the winter months even to the point that you cannot walk on them in a good blow.
Tim added, “It is interesting to see. The big boats are getting bigger. The average weekend boats are getting smaller. People used to live aboard a 35-foot cruiser. It is not what it used to be. The ones that want to do it now buy a fast center console and they’ll go from here to Portland for lunch and come back and do something else. They have no intention of spending the night on the boat. You would see whole families that would come with little kids all the way up, not very often now.”
Brown’s Wharf opens the week before Memorial Day and they close on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. They have tried to stay open longer, but it just does not make financial sense. Help also is problem as many of the foreign employees have to leave as their visas are only good for a specified time period. They found that the weekends were good, but the weekdays are not good at all. Even May and June are difficult to justify, especially if the weather is not good.
If you are looking for a great place to get away to, this is a great one. It is on the quiet side of the harbor. Even though it is on the other side of the harbor the town proper is within walking distance, about a mile. There are numerous stores, places to eat, but the town is also quiet and serene. It is one of the places I love to visit several times a year.
