The buying station at Carter’s Wharf has been designed by the team at 2A Architects, LLC in Rockport, Maine. Architect Amanda Austin started working with the members of the Boothbay Region Maritime Foundation (BRMF) building committee in March of 2019. The goal of the committee was to create a simple building that would meet the current and future needs of the commercial harvesting of seafood, regardless of what type of seafood that might be. The completed design is for a single story building, 28-foot x 64-foot, with large overhead doors on each end to facilitate the loading and unloading of perishable seafood. This will be a wood-framed building with a 3-foot concrete curb and smart board siding. There will be a pedestrian corridor around the exterior of the building for the public to view educational information and see first hand how food is harvested from the sea. Bids for this project are now being accepted. The deadline is September 16th. Contact them at the address below.

The buying station will include maps, murals, and informational panels that will share information about the lobstering industry both past and present. Artists Susan Bartlett Rice and Molly Holmberg Brown of Molly Maps have been commissioned to complete murals and maps for the site. Susan Bartlett Rice is based out of South Bristol, Maine. She has a colorful, fun, and unique style of painting and her subjects frequently are of the working waterfront. She says, “My hope is that my work looks like it was painted in my own time, but captures the places and traditions that make my home of Maine “Maine.” Her work can be seen locally at the Kerr & Jones Gallery on the Ocean Point Road in East Boothbay. You can visit her large mural of clammers on 225 Congress Street at the foot of Munjoy Hill in Portland. To learn more about Susan and her work you can go to her website, https://www.susanbartlettrice.com/. Susan will be creating two pieces for the BRMF, one will focus on the generational aspects of the lobstering business and the other will represent the future of the industry.

Molly Holmberg Brown is a visual artist with a background in geography, cartography and custom map-making. “Over many years I’ve tried to develop map styles that are rich in color and sense of place, helping to convey the energy in a landscape.” You can read about Molly in DownEast Magazine, Maine Home and Design magazine and on her website, https://www.mollymaps.com/. Molly will be creating a map of the Maine lobster zones and a close-up of zone E, the zone that Boothbay Region fishermen fish from.

The new buying station at Carter’s Wharf is an opportunity for the Boothbay Region Maritime Foundation to share the legacy of lobstering with their community. If you are a builder and would like to submit a bid for the project, reach out to them at the address below. If you would like to support the BRMF in their goals you can sponsor the murals, maps, and educational panels, inquire by emailing them at the address below. Sponsorship and memorializing plaques can be arranged. Donations can be made at their website or you can send them to the address below. https://www.boothbayregionmaritimefoundation.org/ If you are a commercial fisherman or commercial fishing business interested in renting space at this new facility, please send a letter of interest to P.O. Box 285, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538 or email them at brmaritimefoundation@gmail.com.

The Boothbay Region Maritime Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit. Their address is P.O. Box 285, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. You can email them at brmaritimefoundation@gmail.com.