Life in the Land of Tourists
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
In the late nineteenth century, Wiscasset and Boothbay Harbor had busy downtowns that provided services to local residents and businesses. Wiscasset had a grocery store, candy store, barber, hairdresser, gas station, several banks, clothing stores, doctors’ offices, and an undertaker. Today, both town centers are dominated by souvenir and gift shops, restaurants and antiques dealers, all catering to summer visitors. Over the course of the twentieth century, Wiscasset and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, came to depend on a single season of tourism each year for their economic survival.
This project explored the changes affecting those towns and the people who reside there. Through oral histories from longtime residents and business owners, and the collection of images, objects, and ephemera, staff from Historic New England and the Boothbay Region Historical Society documented the change in character of these two mid-coast Maine towns.
For more information, please e-mail community engagement at Historic New England.