Here’s an October view of the iconic red boathouse in Conary Cove. As many of you know, this is one of the local scenes that we monitor in all seasons for our records. Strange as it may seem, we can thank a mid-western family and a golf ball for originating the sight, according to online documents (especially research by Steele Hays in “MaineBoats.com”).
For those interested, the story begins with Gertrude and Coburn Haskell of Cleveland, Ohio. They were wealthy summer residents of Blue Hill in the 1920s, having made their fortune through Coburn’s invention of the first golf ball with a rubber core and rubber band filling.
Coburn died at an early age in 1922 and Gertrude and their son Melville (I’m not making up these names) kept coming to their Blue Hill house in summer. A year or two after Coburn’s death, Gertrude and Melville decided to buy a 52-foot, Alden-designed, Maine-built sailboat. But they needed a safe place to moor this expensive beauty.
Gertrude rented property in Conary Cove from Harry Conary or another member of the Conary family that had owned Cove property for many years. She soon bought the property that she was leasing. Gertrude made Harry captain of her sailboat and had the now-red boathouse built in 1924.
Originally and for many years, the boathouse was painted white and had a pier protruding into the Cove. The property was sold to several subsequent owners, all of whom maintained the boathouse at least for the view. It was painted red in the 1950s and has remained so since.(Image taken in Blue Hill, Maine, on October 28, 2024.)