Before it was the Apprenticeshop

After a Wednesday field trip up to Searsport to visit the Penobscot Marine Museum, we got an email from Education Director Jeana Gaskop. She had been thinking about a comment we had made about how our current spot on the Rockland waterfront had once been a livery. She looked up some old fire insurance maps and here’s what she found:

This map is an excerpt from a Sanborn Fire Insurance map from 1885. The ‘Shop site is the W.C. Low Livery (bottom left of the map). Click here for the full map.

By 1892, the same site is the G. F. Ayers Livery (bottom right). Click here for the full map.

By 1896, the site is a pickle factory (bottom left). Click here for the full map.

In 1910, the ‘Shop site is an auto garage (top left) and the buildings around it are vacant and unused. Click here to download the full map (sheet 10).

By 1922, there is less manufacturing going on in Rockland and the building is now storage on the first floor and an antique shop on the 2nd. Click here to download the full map (sheet 10).

Thank you for the history lesson Jeana! We were most surprised by the pickle factory, but now it’s gotten us thinking about producing our very own boatyard pickle.