Contributed by Penobscot Marine Museum
Description
The 1937 Federal Writers' Project Maine : a Guide 'Down East' noted that Belfast was a "popular tourist center" and described several historic houses worth taking a look at.
At that time Route 1 ran right through the city on Northport Avenue and High Street, down the hill on Bridge Street, across Memorial Bridge, and up the hill to East Belfast.
In the 1930s and '40s a number of homeowners on Northport Avenue and High Street opened their houses to travelers and gave them names: the Wild Briar, "Birchcrest, a real home for tourists," Dreamworld, Home Nook, Rock-Haven, and the Memory Shop, Antiques and Over Nite guests.
On Belfast's east side, Night Fall Lodge, now the Cherished Home store, and Bay View Farm, now Broadreach Family & Community Services, offered lodging.
Bay View Farm, which had the largest barn in Waldo County, was open all year, with 8 rooms for tourists and facilities for club parties and luncheons. A 1933 ad for Bay View Farm "Overlooking Beautiful Penobscot Bay" boasted, "Our Famous Chicken Dinners Cooked Southern and New England Style cannot be Equaled – Board by the Day of Week."
Bay View Farm was still welcoming guests in the 1950s, but new zoning laws had paved the way for more tourism-related businesses on Searsport and Northport Avenues. The Penobscot Bay Motel, Belfast's first, opened in 1953 across from the hospital. It later housed health-care offices.
About This Item
- Title: Bay View Inn, Belfast, ca. 1938
- Creator: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company
- Creation Date: circa 1938
- Subject Date: circa 1938
- Location: Belfast, Waldo County, ME
- Media: Glass Negative
- Dimensions: 12.75 cm x 17.75 cm
- Local Code: LB2007.1.109551
- Collection: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company
- Postcards--Maine
- Photographs--Maine--Belfast
- Hotels--Maine--Belfast
- Houses--Maine--Belfast
- Lodging houses--Maine--Belfast
- Tourists--Maine--Belfast
For more information about this item, contact:
Penobscot Marine MuseumPO Box 498, 5 Church Street, Searsport, ME 04974
(207) 548-2529
Website
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
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