The Clark Shipwright Office was built circa 1850 (pictured above directly at the base of the church steeple). For many years it was used as a shipyard office, standing in the shadow of the South Congregational Church on Temple Street. It served the firms of Crawford & Ward, Crawford & Perkins, and finally David Clark who took over the shipyard property about 1880. After the shipyard closed with David Clark’s death in 1902, the building remained largely unused but intact long after all the other shipyard buildings had been razed.
The little building, a rectangular one-room clapboard structure is the last building in existence that is directly associated with the wooden shipbuilding industry of the Kennebunk area. Shipbuilding was the lifeblood of Kennebunkport in the 19th century, and early 20th century. A 1977 fund drive made it possible to accept the little building as a gift from maritime historian Charles S. Morgan. The Clark Shipyard Office is now an integral part of the Kennebunkport Historical Society’s maritime history collection housing many artifacts donated to the Society by Morgan.
The Clark Shipyard Office is located at 135 North Street.
