Early Fish Canneries in Brooklin

Text by Jane Hooper

Images from the Sedgwick Brooklin Historical Society

Despite the isolation of small Penobscot Peninsula communities, important fish canneries were still able to develop. In Brooklin, beginning in the mid-1850s, many small operations began, at first for personal consumption or as local products.

By the 1900s, numerous canneries began operating in Center Harbor, located within the Brooklin community. Over the years, these local plants changed hands, changed products, and eventually were abandoned.

How important were these factories to the local community: What led to the abandonment of the factories? What happened to the sites on which these canning factories were situated?

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