Boathouse Homecoming Means 90 Bridge St. Work Continues

CHATHAM – With a small crowd of onlookers in attendance, the historic Coast Guard boathouse was gingerly lifted from a barge to its new home at 90 Bridge St. last Wednesday. The move was a crowning achievement for preservationists and an important milestone in the $11 million waterfront project.

 “The return of the Chatham Station Boathouse to Stage Harbor last Wednesday was cause for celebration for so many local residents,” said resident Jack Farrell, who worked with friend David Doherty to save the historic structure and find a new home for it. After years of effort, with significant help from marine contractor Jay Cashman, the boathouse has been installed on a new pier and will eventually house the town’s shellfish grow-out operation.

 “Whether you were interested in historic preservation, shellfish propagation, economic development or maritime history, this project offered something for everyone,” Farrell said

For more than 70 years, the boathouse kept watch over Stage Harbor from its original home on Stage Island, and was a base of operations for small rescue boats from Coast Guard Station Chatham. The most famous of those boats was the CG36500, famed for its role in the Pendleton rescue of 1952, as immortalized in the Disney movie “The Finest Hours.” Preservationists saved the structure from destruction when it was evicted from its Stage Island location in 2009, barging it to temporary quarters on the South Shore until a permanent home could be found.

Meanwhile, the town had been advancing a plan to develop a multi-use waterfront facility at 90 Bridge St. that would serve commercial fishermen, recreational boaters and the shellfish industry. Plans were being drafted to build a new structure on the planned pier to house the shellfish department’s upweller tanks, currently operating in cramped quarters at Old Mill Boat Yard. Preservationists suggested an adaptive reuse of the boathouse instead, and the project team moved the idea forward. Town officials also saw the opportunity to increase public support for the capital project by adding new constituents: history buffs.

 “There is still much work to be done to repurpose the structure for use as the town's shellfish upweller facility,” Farrell said. “We look forward to monitoring the transformation and celebrating the grand opening in spring 2027.”

 “What we have right now is the historic shell of the building, and there are really two tracks of work ahead,” Chatham Natural Resources Director Greg Berman said. “One is the renovation of the boathouse itself, including the interior fit out, electrical work, stairs, utility platforms, and the other elements needed to make the building operational. The second is installation of the plumbing and the upweller system (consisting of the seawater pumps and shellfish propagation equipment), which is being handled as a separate package because it requires specialized expertise.” 

The goal, he said, is not just to restore the building, but to adapt it into a working facility that will support the town’s shellfish program for many years to come.

 “The latest update is that the new extension pier, which is separate from the pier where the upweller will be located, should be open to the public within the next month or so. Restrictions will continue on the upweller pier during the final phase, but we wanted the public to be able to use at least a portion of the site over the spring and summer,” Berman said. “Work is now shifting to the interior work and seawater system installation, with the goal of having the shellfish division move in and begin propagation in the new facility in spring 2027.”

 The installation of the boathouse last week was the culmination of years of work and planning by a host of stakeholders, some of whom passed away before seeing the job done. Berman, who’s been on the job since 2023, said it’s a special project to be part of.

 “It’s not often you get the chance to help bring back a historic structure like this and give it a new working life that supports the town’s shellfish program. Even though I’ve only been involved for the last two-and-a-half years, it already feels so meaningful to me,” he said. “So I can only imagine what this moment means to the people who have been dedicated to it for so much longer. I feel very fortunate to help see it through these last phases.”

 Once the renovations are completed, the town’s historical commission plans to nominate the building for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.