A York historical society has used funding from the state’s Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program to save an historic wharf on the York River and provide critical waterfront access to southern Maine lobstermen.
With the help of bond money provided by the program, Museums of Old York is completing work on the Hancock Wharf on the York River. The renovations have rescued the pier and retaining wall from decay and will provide additional floats for lobstermen. A refrigerated bait shack will be added in coming months. The total renovation will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $230,000 and provide permanent dock access for three lobster boats.
Three boats may not sound like much, said Hugh Cowperthwaite, fisheries project coordinator with Coastal Enterprises Inc. who administers the Working Waterfront Access Program. But in southern Maine, finding a home for three boats is critical, he said.
“On the York River, it’s pretty big because there aren’t many opportunities [for waterfront access] there,” Cowperthwaite said.
The lack of waterfront access for lobstermen is acute in southern Maine. In York, lobstermen have to scramble for wharf access, said veteran lobsterman Jack Holbrook.
“York keeps losing its working waterfront,” Holbrook said. “We’re down to nothing, really.”
Throughout his career, Holbrook has watched wharfs along the York River disappear from commercial use. York lobstermen have become reliant on the overcrowded town piers, where they must wait and jockey for position. One summer, the overcrowding became so pronounced that lobstermen began to refuel from a truck parked on a nearby bridge.
“I think the DEP frowned upon that,” said Cowperthwaite. “It shows how desperate [lobstermen] were.”
The problem is at its worst this winter and spring because one town pier is being renovated. To help, two lobstermen temporarily have made their private pier open to other lobstermen. Without temporary access to this pier, lobstermen would be forced to unload on land by hand, said Holbrook.
It’s this sense of desperation that caused several lobstermen to approach Museums of Old York executive director Scott Stevens a few years ago about using the Hancock wharf that was owned by the historical society. At the time, the wharf was used solely for recreational boating access, but it used to be an important commercial access point, said Stevens.
“It was the conduit of goods coming in and going out of town,” Stevens said.
The wharf once was owned by constitutional signer John Hancock, coming into his hands to settle a debt. It was a busy pier used for fishing and coal and firewood shipping up until World War I. After 1914, it was owned by a local family and used for lobster boats until 1980, when it was sold and switched to recreational use.
Stevens agreed to let lobstermen use the space, but he and others at the historical society soon grew concerned about the condition of the wharf and the nearby retaining wall. Museums of Old York already was attempting to maintain ten historical buildings and no one knew how they could find the money needed to renovate the wharf.
“We were getting high five and low six-figure estimates,” Stevens said. “That would be our entire operating budget.”
Instead, the organization applied for bond money from the state’s Working Waterfront Pilot Access Program. Since the program’s inception, Maine citizens have voted three times to raise bond money to secure working waterfront access in perpetuity for fishermen.
After a long application process, Museums of Old York was granted funds through the program. The organization agreed to forgo all future rights to develop the property for non-working waterfront use. In exchange, the state provided 255,000 to make up the difference in the value of the property if it were developed for such uses. Museums of Old York then used that money to renovate the wharf.
The York wharf project is one of several Working Waterfront grants to ensure access to lobstermen in Southern Maine. Recently, the state announced it has awarded $252,500 to the town of Scarborough to help the town renovate a wharf.
It was the first time that a museum has been awarded funds under the program. Stevens said it may look strange at first glance for a historical preservation organization to get involved in working waterfront, but such a project fits in perfectly with his organization’s mission.
“It’s a form of historical preservation,” said Stevens. “We’re preserving a traditional way of life.”
In addition to constructing the bait shack, Museums of Old York now will focus on raising money for future renovations on the wharf.
In some ways, Cowperthwaite sees the Working Waterfront program coming full-circle with the York wharf renovation. It was an effort by two York fishermen and a local land trust to purchase property and waterfront access across the river from the Hancock wharf that helped inspire the Maine legislature to begin the Working Waterfront program, he said.
While no one’s under the illusion that such a project will solve the problem of working waterfront access in southern Maine, Holbrook said York fishermen appreciate any help they can get to access the water.
“It’s great,” Holbrook said. “They need one or two projects like it in every harbor up and down the coast.”