The Grist Mill Property and the Clem Clark Boathouse

By Shelley Wigglesworth

In 2006, The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust acquired the Perkins Grist Mill property on Mill Lane in Kennebunkport. The Perkins Grist Mill was one of the last surviving 18th-century tide mills in the United States before it was destroyed by arson fire in 1994.

Capt. Thomas Perkins built the mill in 1749. An early engineering wonder, instead of relying on the river flowing to the ocean to power the wheels to grind grain, it relied on the changing tides. As the high tide came in the water was captured and blocked. When the tide went out, the block was released, generating power.

The mill operated continuously, with minor mechanical upgrades as needed, from 1749 until 1939. After it ceased operation as a mill in 1939, the building served as a tearoom and later a fine dining restaurant called The Old Grist Mill.

Along with the Perkins Grist Mill property, came the Clement Clark Boathouse, which is steps away from where the mill once stood. The former owners of The Old Grist Mill restaurant had purchased the boathouse building adjacent to the property, and the two sites were sold together to the Trust.

The Clem Clark Boathouse is the former boat building space built by Clem Clark himself to house his successful boat building business. A skilled carpenter, Clark built lobster boats, pleasure boats and skiffs. He also provided boat winterization services and boat storage as well as boat upgrades and cosmetic repairs. The proximity of the boathouse to the Kennebunk River allowed for boats to be launched directly from the workshop, and for incoming boats to dock and be worked on while still in the water when possible.

Clark and his family resided in a house which once stood in front of the boat shop on Mill Lane, allowing him the convenience of being mere steps away from his livelihood. In his well-equipped workshop, Clark meticulously crafted boats by hand using techniques he learned from his father, uncle, and grandfather before him, who all worked as shipbuilders on the nearby banks of Kennebunk River. In a 2008 article in the York County Coast Star by Sharon Cummins of the Kennebunkport Historical Society, Cummins noted "Clement Clark, his father, a master carpenter, worked on the last of the sailing vessels to be built in Kennebunkport and his uncle was in the shipbuilding business most of his life. Clark worked on his first vessel when he was eighteen and after going into business for himself built several pleasure cruisers for the famous Booth Tarkington." Clark ran his business on Mill Lane from 1920-1958.

82-year-old Harrison Small is the grandson of Clem Clark. He remembers his grandfather as “a good natured and hardworking man.” Small said his grandfather was “friendly, but always kept busy.” He is credited for building numerous fine craftsmanship fishing boats and skiffs over the years, including a handful for local lobstermen such as Hadley McLean, whose boat was named the Glad Gary M. He also built pleasure boats. Abbott Pendergast of Kennebunkport and, as previously noted, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Booth Tarkington, among others, were owners of recreational Clem Clark boats.

Small donated a portion of his grandfather’s possessions he inherited to the Trust, including a model of a boat hull, tools his grandfather used, and the toolbox Clem Clark carried his essential tools used to build the boathouse, and the boats he crafted. “My mother remembers him putting his toolbox, chocked full of tools on his shoulder and hiking to work with it before he went into business for himself building boats,” Small said. As a boy, Small remembers visiting his grandfather’s boat shop often and remembers the steamer located outside the furnace room where the bending and shaping of the ribs for the boats his grandfather built took place.

The Grist Mill property and Clem Clark Boathouse are two unique Trust locations steeped in rich local history. Both serve as valuable direct learning centers. Executive director of the KCT, Tom Bradbury said “Elementary school students from Consolidated School visit multiple times a year. They walk here for field trips. The students gain information about our ancestors and their lives on the river. They explore ship building days, tidal mills, and the growth of our town in colonial times. They have direct access to authentic antique tools used in shipbuilding and boatbuilding and can stand in the building where these boats were built while viewing tools, boats, and artifacts from these days in history.”

The building has been used for lectures, tours, and as a classroom for programs. The land in front of the boathouse was the setting for the Trust’s Labyrinth of Lights Christmas Prelude celebration in 2018. The potential for the Grist Mill and Boathouse properties are limitless.

Inside the boathouse you will find the bow of Booth Tarkington’s sailing ship the Regina, a 1700’s dugout canoe, a skiff built by Clem Clark, antique and vintage boat building essentials, miscellaneous maritime items, vintage fishing gear, family photos, and artifacts such as chunks of coral from far away shipping destinations which were used as ballast in ships and found in the tidal bank here in Kennebunkport, where they were discarded long ago. 

“The Clem Clark Boathouse is a special place. Clem was a true Mainer, a fine craftsman, and the salt of the earth. You can really feel Clem’s presence when you are in the building,” Bradbury said.

In addition to the current use and potential uses of the boathouse, The Grist Mill property includes one of the few public access areas to the Kennebunk River, where visitors may drop off kayaks, paddle boards and canoes then park at the public parking lot on North Street and walk back to the site to enjoy recreational river activities with access to the ocean. Picnic tables are on the site. All picnic items must be carry-in/carry-out.

FMI on the Grist Mill Property and the Clem Clark Boathouse please visit: https://www.kporttrust.org/land-and-trails