Crystal Ward Kent courtesy of Lowell’s Boat Shop

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The Lowell Boat Shop remained in the same family from 1793 until the 1970s. Photo by David Petty. A dory gradually takes shape. Doug Scott, a former builder at the shop, inspects the craft. Photo by David Petty. None of the Lowell boats are built from plans; they are built from wooden patterns, like those shown here. Lowell dories moored on the Merrimack River, as they have been for more than 200 years.

In Amesbury, Mass., stands a connection to the sea that is centuries old. Lowell’s Boat Shop, built in 1793, is the oldest continuously operating boat shop in the United States. Named on the National Register of Historic Places, and recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the shop is cited as the birthplace of the legendary fishing dory. Back then the Amesbury area was world-famous for its boat building, producing more than 200,000 dories over a period of two centuries, but today, only Lowell’s carries on that tradition.  The shop is now a working museum and nonprofit organization, which has as its mission to “preserve and perpetuate the art and craft of wooden boat building through actual hands-on building and education.”

Simeon Lowell built his boat shop on the banks of the Merrimack River, several lots downriver from where the operation runs today. Over time, he expanded his holdings to where the current shop now sits. By 1848, Simeon’s grandson, Hiram, who had trained in boat building alongside his father, took over the business. In 1860, he constructed a new shop, which still stands today, the oldest of the Lowell buildings.

Built in the Greek Revival industrial style, the boat shop has large windows facing the water, flooding the workrooms with light. An abundance of hand tools, such as planes and hammers, is strewn about, and the frame of a dory arches gracefully on its supports. Outside, the Merrimack flows past. A boat ramp leads from the structure to the river. While any boat can be tested for seaworthiness, with a history such as Lowell’s, there is no question that their dories will perform. Seaworthiness is built into every plank, as it has been for centuries.

Both Simeon and Hiram Lowell were men of vision. Simeon conceived of the original Lowell dory, the esteemed “Surf Dory,” which is the round-sided predecessor to the straight-sided Banks Dory and the Swampscott, another style of round-sided dory. Simeon’s creation was needed because in his day, Merrimack River fishermen were unable to easily fish beyond the mouth of the river. Where the mighty Merrimack met the sea, conditions were hazardous, due to strong tides and powerful currents. The tranquil river transformed into a maelstrom of churning water and huge waves that could engulf gigs and skiffs. As Pam Bates, executive director of the museum, says, “if the fishermen were lucky, only the day’s catch would be lost.”

Simeon made radical changes to the boat style, altering the keel and planking, and adding a “tomstone transom” that could split a following sea and propel the boat away from danger.  When asked why the surf dory became so popular, Pam smiles and repeats an old sailor’s quote, “(The surf dory) might scare you to death, but you won’t drown in it.”

When his turn came, Hiram applied his ideas not only to design, but to how boats could be produced. He conceived of the modern assembly line, which allowed him to mass produce dories. The assembly line was significant, as during production, the boats moved not only from station to station, but from floor to floor within the boathouse. Lowell’s began achieving peak efficiency after 1865, and by the 1870s were shipping as many as 855 dories per year, to places as far as Nova Scotia, Alaska and Africa. It is said that Henry Ford got his idea for the automobile assembly line after touring Amesbury boat shops.

Under Hiram’s direction, the design of the Banks Dory was perfected, establishing Lowell’s as the preeminent dory manufacturer in the United States, if not the world. Named for the Grand Banks, the rich fishing grounds of the tempestuous north Atlantic, these dories were designed to be stacked in transport. A dozen or more Banks Dories would be launched daily from the deck of a Gloucester Schooner. The schooner fleet would disperse along the Banks, and fish by hand-line for cod, halibut and haddock, which were exported around the world. Lowell’s craftsmen worked at a furious pace to meet the fleet’s demand. The Salisbury Villager of January 6, 1859 states that the Gloucester Grand Banks fishing fleet of about 300 schooners required 2700 new dories each year. By 1911, the Lowell’s had so perfected production that this shop alone produced 2029 boats in that year.

Hiram also had his eye on public pursuits, observing that Victorian “rusticators” seemed to enjoy rowing, seeking the natural beauty of the Merrimack on leisurely afternoons. He soon developed a “thirteen foot recreational rowing skiff...for river use.” The skiff proved immensely popular, and is considered a classic. John Gardner, the “Dean of Wooden Boat Building,” and long-time curator of Mystic Seaport’s small boats, described the skiff in his book, Classic Small Craft You Can Build, “In my opinion, these Amesbury skiffs were the best small rowboats ever built for everyday use around the waterfront.”

Interestingly, none of the Lowell boats were built from plans, they were (and still are) built from patterns. Even today, dozens of pieces of curved wood hang in bunches in the windows and other parts of the shop. Each piece represents part of a pattern, they key to a quality boat.

Over the next few decades, the shop continued to pass down through the Lowell family. By the time Ralph Lowell, Fred’s grandson, took over in the 1940s, the wooden boat industry was facing tough times. Commercial fishermen rarely used wooden dories, and fiberglass boats arrived on the scene in the 1950s. Lowell’s Boat Shop might have faded into history if it weren’t for a revival of the wooden boat craft in the 1970s. Jon Wilson of Maine launched Wooden Boat magazine to preserve the art and science of wooden boat building. Interest blossomed, and soon there were schools, apprenticeships, and books. The Odell family purchased Lowell’s to preserve the shop, and create a family tradition of their own. Soon, Lowell’s had a new role—that of not only producer, but school and nonprofit museum.

Boat orders still come in from around the world. Increasing the appreciation of wooden boats, and attracting others to carry on the craft, remains at the forefront of the boat shop’s  mission. To that end, Pam feels they are succeeding. “There are good boat builders out there, and they carry on that legacy through teaching at a range of historic sites and boat shops around the country,” she says. “Some train here at Lowell’s. Boat builders at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for example, trained here. Robert Elliott worked here as a young builder, then went to Strawbery Banke, then to the Wooden Boat School in Brookline, Maine, and now comes back here twice a year to teach. The tradition endures.”

To Visit
The museum is open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with guided tours by appointment. Lowell’s Boat Shop is located on 459 Main Street, Amesbury, Mass. For more information, or to become a member, call 978 834-0050, or visit www.lowellsboatshop.com.