The Tide is the semi-annual newsletter of the Machiasport Historical Society.  The newsletter covers events being sponsored by the society and articles and pictures covering the history and development of the area.  Receiving The Tide is a benefit of membership in the Machiasport Historical Society.     

From the Fall 2010 issue of The Tide: 

Waterfront in transition

Frank Foster shares these pictures of the once busy waterfront in Machiasport.  The pictures of the buildings and businesses help us visualize the thriving community and major shipping port.  Frank will share more pictures of old Machiasport at the delayed 200th anniversary of the Gates House planned for next summer.  You may also want to check out the collection of old photos and postcards in the Machiasport Room.

The second cluster of buildings on the right side of the picture above were on “Mill Hill” and  marked the beginning of a very busy waterfront.  Activities included smoked herring stands owned by George Welch, Ernest Stiles and Jesse Guptilll, Hegarty’s Boast Shop, Sanborn’s blacksmith shop and homes of C. W. Watts and Joseph W. Cates, now the Captain Cates Bed and Breakfast

Between the “Sail Loft” building on the left and the Machiasport Packing Co. sardine factory (later Booth Fisheries) on the right we see the Gates House,  Small Bros. store, (later Hammond T. Flynn’s}, a tug boat, possible the “Sam Jones” and the remains of wharves marking the terminus of the Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad.  Liberty Town Hall towers, impressively over that once busy waterfront.