Approximately 80 Boothbay Shores Association (BSA) members and friends attended a 50th anniversary celebration of the BSA on Saturday evening, July 28. The three-hour celebration organized by a committee of homeowners, included music from 1968, lobster salad, and anniversary cake.

Sheida White provided the history of the BSA, which included the unveiling of a collage of historical photographs with captions. She also handed out copies of a 16-page booklet she had researched and prepared on the history of the BSA. Her booklet included where she found most of the information–from the Boothbay Region Historical Society, the Boothbay Register, the Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, and interviews with long-time residents.

In brief, the history of the Boothbay Shores dates from 1927 when a land developer from New Jersey, Mr. William Jackson, purchased the entire peninsula (about 250 acres) from the Benjamin Reed heirs. He intended to create an elaborate summer resort. The area was almost a virgin territory back then. The Boothbay Register carried several full-page advertisements of Boothbay Shores. Mr. Jackson subdivided the area into 400 tiny 1/8-acre house lots connected by a series of roads designated as “trails” with Indian names, such as Samoset. Four log cabins were built in 1928—all of which had to conform in style.

Glen Cove (the upper end of Little River) was to be the country’s largest salt-water swimming pool. A small volume of water was to flow in and out to prevent the pool from stagnating. Mr. Eldridge Giles built the pool in 1927 for Mr. Jackson. The swimming pool was equipped with a giant water toboggan, a bathing pavilion, and a recreation pavilion. There was also an observation tower to afford views of Monhegan Island and the ocean beyond. The stock-market crash of 1929 and the great depression that followed brought an early demise to the ambitious project. The lots were eventually sold to private individuals and what evolved in place of the resort is the present low-key private community of Boothbay Shores.