This information is taken directly from a brochure prepared by the Quoddy Maritime Museum in 2001. This brochure, The Eastport Walk-About, which also include maps and pictures is available at the Quoddy Maritime Museum, 70 Washington Street. (NR) denotes listing on National Register of Historic Places.
American Can Company Building 5 Sea Street, Industrial/Commercial. This large two story brick and cement structure is one of several buildings that remain of the once thriving sardine industry that started in Eastport in 1875. It was in operation by 1908 when it was called the "new plant." It was the second plant that was built in the area by the American Can Co. of New Jersey for the Seacoast Canning Company. This building housed machinery that made the cans in which the fish were packed. During the 10 month packing season, 300 people were employed at the plant and the daily output was over half a million cans. This plant was built on the end of the line of the newly built railroad. When future President Franklin Roosevelt recovered from his attack of polio he was brought by boat from Campobello Island to the American Can siding and placed aboard the train for his trip home. In the movie Sunrise at Campobello, [available for rental at Fran's Convenience], the American Can building is seen in the background. This building is presently used by one of several salmon aquaculture firms operating in the area. |
Shackford/Huston's Cove, Shipbuilding In 1823 Robert Huston started a shipbuilding industry that would see as many as ten yards operating up to the 1870s and be responsible for several hundred vessels being built. Sloops, schooners, brigs, barques, ships, steamers and other vessels were built primarily at Shackford's and Prince's Coves. In the 20th century, sardine carriers, small working craft, lobster boats, fiberglass boats and schooners were built. |
Jabez Mowry House 11 Franklin Street, Corner of Franklin and Hallett Streets, Federal style. Over the years, the facade of this house was altered with the addition of a porch, a bay window, removal of a door entrance to Hallett Street and the clapboard siding covered. Built before March 1815, it was called the "new house." In 1806, Jabez Mowry of Providence, Rhode Island bought land overlooking Shackford's Cove. He became a wealthy merchant and was involved in the smuggling trade that made Eastport infamous. Mowry remained in town after the British captured Moose Island in July 1814. Mr. Mowry was one of six Eastport businessmen that were responsible for the payment of U.S. duty bonds. In the spring of 1815 a British official came to collect money. Jabez Mowry along with four other Eastport merchants, Ezra T. Bucknam, Josiah Dana, Samuel Wheeler, and Jonathan Bartlett, fled to Lubec. This house was used by the British as officers quarters during the occupation of Eastport. |
Lewis Frederick Delesdernier House 7 Franklin Street, Federal style. Over the years renovations were made; a side addition was removed and placed to the back and the clapboard siding covered. Eastport's first Custom agent, L.F. Delesdernier, built the house about 1807. The customhouse was located at the bottom of Custom Street. Delesdernier was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and served with the noted Col. John Allen. During the War of 1812 he fled to Lubec to avoid capture when the British occupied Eastport. This house was used by the British as officers quarters during the occupation of Eastport. From the State Burial Ground in Augusta, Maine: W. DELESDERNIER of Baileyville Died Jan. 16, 1842 aged 49. William Delesdernier was the son of Lieut. Lewis Frederick Delesdernier, a Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, refugee, who came to Machias in 1776. In May, 1777, he was commissioned first lieutenant in the Continental Army by Col. John Allan, and acted as his secretary while Col. Allan commanded the Eastern Indians. Soon after the close of the Revolution he removed to Passamaquoddy and was the first collector of customs and the first postmaster of Eastport. William was born at Eastport in 1792 or 1793 and in his young manhood was a merchant in his native town. He removed to Calais about 1830. He was active in politics and in 1831 was a representative in the state legislature from the latter town. He was sheriff of Washington county in 1833, '34, and '35. He removed to Baileyville and in 1838, '39, '40 and '41 represented the Baileyville class in the state legislature. In 1841 he was elected one of the Washington county senators and took his seat January 5, 1842. He was stricken with a fatal illness and died at the seat of government, January 16, 1842, and was buried in the state grounds. It was undoubtedly the interment of Mr. Delesdernier in the state ground that hastened the action of the legislature in dedicating a spot of the burial of officers of the state and erecting a suitable memorial. A resolve was introduced in the Senate in 1841 to erect a memorial to Governor Lincoln, but it seems that the House took no action thereon. In 1842 the House took the initiative, the Senate concurred, and the State Burial Ground was laid out and a tomb and monument erected. |
The Huston House 6 Third Street, Second Empire style. Caleb Stetson Huston bought this house in the late 1850s from William H. Hall, a noted shipbuilder and marine architect. Caleb was a third generation shipbuilder and from the 1840s to the 1870s he is credited for building over 100 vessels, from sloops, to schooners, to brigs, barques and ships. At the height of shipbuilding in Eastport, C.S. Huston controlled four shipyards at Shackford Cove. |
Capt. William Shackford's House 10 Shackford Street, Queen Ann style. Capt. William Shackford commanded the Active in 1807, later the Sally, Orient, Blockade, and Five Brothers, mainly in the West Indies trade. Early in 1812, while sailing from Eastport to Cadiz, Spain with a cargo of rice and flour, French privateers out of San Lucar, Spain captured him. Townspeople aided in procuring money for his release. Ironically, he returned to the United States from England on one of the last ships allowed to come to America unmolested and with the word that the War of 1812 had commenced. |
The Hobbs House 11 Shackford Street, 1823, Federal. The west wing was built by Isaac Hobbs in 1816, prior to the main house. He was junior partner with his older brother George in the merchantile business of George and Isaac Hobbs. George and Isaac were responsible for Robert Huston building the schooner Champion in 1823, starting Eastport's shipbuilding era. |
Dr. Micajah J. Hawkes House 15 Shackford Street, high style example of Federal design. Bordering the front door are colorful lead glass panes, some cut with graceful designs. This house was built between 1816-18 by one of Eastport's long time leading physicians. Dr. Hawkes with his family arrived in Eastport in 1817 from Boston. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and served on the U.S.S. Hornet as the assistant surgeon. As a result of his service, Hawkes received a leg wound from the battle with the H.M.S. Peacock which caused him to walk with a slight limp the rest of his life. |
Eastport, Maine: Easternmost City in the U.S.A.
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