Lowell’s Boat Shop
In September 2023, I had a three-day adventure in Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH. After my first major stop at Rocky Hill Meeting House, I went down the street to Lowell’s Boat Shop, the oldest working boat shop in America and in operation since 1793. Located over the Merrimack River, the bright red building has been a National Historic Landmark since 1990.
Lowell’s Boat Shop receives its name from the Lowell family who joined the dominant boat building industry in the early 18th century. Boat builder Gideon Lowell arrived in Amesbury from Newbury in 1718, while his nephew, Simeon Lowell, started the official business with his sons Stephen and Benjamin. Simeon's grandson, Hiram Lowell, constructed the current buildings in 1860 during the American Civil War when the area was considered to be part of Salisbury rather than Amesbury. After Hiram retired, his son Frederick Elmore Lowell ran the shop. The Lowell family added building additions 1897, 1942, and 1947.
Before I visited Lowell’s Boat Shop, I had little knowledge about the construction of boats and the variations of boats. The shop considers itself “the birthplace of the American Dory”. This is a simple wooden boat with a flat bottom, a curved hull or body, and overlapping wooden planks. Before the dory, fishers used a French boat called a bateau, which had straight sides. Dories were the most popular at the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1898 and 1918, the shop produced at least a thousand of these dories each year, with 2,029 dories in 1911. Frederick A. Lowell, son of Frederick E., took over the shop in 1914 as dory production began to decline. Fred A. modernized production by changing machines from steam power to electricity. Ralph Lowell, grandson of Fred A., ran the shop by 1942. He was the last of the Lowell family to build boats and sold the business to the Odell family in 1976.
After seven generations of the Lowell family building dories, Lowell’s Boat Shop has been preserved as a working boat building shop and a non-profit museum. Malcolm and Marjorie Odell conducted historical research along with modernizing the building to have an HVAC system and indoor plumbing. Previously, the toilet was a closet with a hole dumping directly into the river. Preserving the museum is a joint effort between Lowell’s Boat Shop Trust with the Trust for Public Lands and Newburyport Maritime Society (now Custom House Maritime Museum, which I visited in September 2022), while Lowell’s Maritime Foundation has existed since 2007.
Lowell’s Boat Shop is open for business from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday, while the museum is open from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday. Be sure to call ahead at (978) 834-0050 or email them at info@lowellsboatshop.com to let them know you are visiting; they respond quickly to email. Pricing for a guided tour is $8 for adults and $6 for students & seniors, while a self-guided tour is $5 for adults and $4 for students & seniors. Children under 12 are free regardless of tour. Besides tours, the shop hosts apprentice programs, youth programs, and adult classes, along with boating events. Like most historic buildings, the shop is not accessible to those using wheelchairs or with limited mobility due to stairs, tight spaces, uneven floors, and boat building equipment. However, the website provides extensive information, including videos and photographs, which allow remote visitors to virtually tour the space.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 7/10
Accessibility: 6/10