Thursday, Dec. 4 was a day of mixed emotions in Boothbay Harbor.

After 40 years, to the day, Nancy and Peter Gilchrist were serving their last meals as owners and hosts of the Ebb Tide Restaurant.

The couple took the helm of the landmark restaurant on Dec. 4, 1974, and have been manning the kitchen and dining room practically every day since.

After doing some research, Peter Gilchrist came up with some astonishing numbers from those 40 years.

“It has been open for 190,000 hours and has had 1,800 tons of products delivered,” he said. “We’ve served over 5.5 million meals.”

But it’s time for a change. The couple is retiring, and the Ebb Tide is closing its doors.

The Gilchrists knew it was going to be a shock to their thousands of loyal customers, from here and away, so they planned four days of closing slowly to soften the blow.

They started winding down on Dec. 1, by offering special deals on meals.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 1-3 any employee who had ever worked at the Ebb Tide was invited to have one last employee-discounted meal.

On those same three days, specials were offered at their original prices from 40 years ago.

On Dec. 4, meals were all half-price, sandwiches were $2 and breakfasts, served all day, were all $1. After 4 p.m. dinners were all $3.

The Gilchrists’ son, Peter, who lives in Brooklyn, New York City, surprised them by showing up on Monday wearing his old Ebb Tide shirt, and pitching in to help. He was a little put out though that his parents decided to close on a weekday.

“A lot of my New York friends would like to have come, but couldn’t get away during the week,” he said.

Trish McGlaflin, who has worked at Ebb Tide since 1995, and her sister, Rose Marie Hodgdon, who has worked there for 36 years, were waiting tables, and working at holding back their emotions.

“I cried,” McGlaflin said, when she heard the Gilchrists were leaving.

Caitlin Burke and Scott Laudati came into the restaurant for lunch on the last day.

“We live in New York City and had a couple days off. We had never been to Boothbay Harbor so we decided to take a ride and check it out.”

Little did they know it would be their last chance to eat at a local landmark.

Belinda Campbell, a regular at the restaurant, said she was sad about the closing.

“It’s the place to hang out and see people,” Campbell said. “And my husband proposed to me on the steps.”

Suzanne Gray of Gray’s Homestead Campground in Southport was having her last chocolate shake with her lunch. She was sad too.

“This has been the place to go whenever we needed a break from the campground.” (She came back for dinner with her husband, Steve, but don’t tell anyone.)

The Gilchrists say they’re optimistic that this isn’t the end for the Ebb Tide. They have had numerous inquiries from interested parties to buy or lease the business. They are keeping their options open.

On Ebb Tide’s last day, Peter Gilchrist was feeling the love.

“I think nearly the whole peninsula has eaten at the restaurant sometime during the past few days,” he said. “It's been fabulous to see everybody.”

To the thousands of people who have patronized Ebb Tide over the past 40 years, though, it is the end of an era.

Click here for photos of Ebb Tide’s last hurrah.