Our History

A brief history...

In 1933 shipbuilder Bill Lee's very first workshops and outbuildings, were built on the very same locations as where our current buildings stand, and were then initially known as the Lee Shipbuilding Company.
In 1936 Bill Lee founded Harwich Port Boat Works, and thus continued an almost 100 year history of maritime workmanship on the little spit of land between Wychmere Harbor and Nantucket Sound.

Originally Wychmere Harbor was simply known as Salt Water Pond and was connected to Nantucket Sound by the merest of trickles. In the 1870's local Harwich fisherman decided to hand dig the channel between the pond and the sound, but after much labor and great effort the small stream of water had been expanded into only a slightly larger stream, and was still incapable of passing boats into the harbor.

Salt Water Pond (Wychmere Harbor) bottom right, before there was a channel.

By 1880 the channel had been refilled in and a horse racing track was built around the almost perfectly circular pond.
This only lasted a short time and in 1887 the channel was properly dredged and small boats were able to move in and out of the small pond. In 1888, a plan was conceived by the 'Pond Improvement Association' and approved by the State Harbor & Land Commission to improve the small channel. By 1905 the State had followed through on the plan making the pond over into a proper harbor. Stone rip-rap lined the channel, and a short granite jetty on the west side was soon added. Within five years a considerable fishing fleet of shoal draft catboats were calling Wychmere Harbor home.

Painting of the "Trotting Park" built around Wychmere Harbor.

The name 'Wychmere', meaning "salt lake", was coined by three Brooklyn doctors turned real estate developers who began calling their new venture the "Wychmere Syndicate". “Wych” is believed to come from old British “wich” meaning where salt is found, and “mere” which is Scottish for lake.
The three saw a chance for a financial killing as they purchased the vacant lands to the east, north and west of the harbor. They hoped to capitalize on prospects for quick access to the Cape from several sources which included the building of macadam and hard clay roads and the newly minted automobile. At this time The Old Colony railroad had extended it's tracks to the Lower Cape giving a means to travel easily to New York, Providence and Boston, all within hours instead of days.
Although plans were in place in 1905, It was the "Wychmere Syndicate", not the "Pond Improvement Association", that put pressure on the Commonwealth to make improvements to the Salt Pond "canal" into a useful harbor by 1905.

Slowly the "Wychmere Syndicate" sold their real estate lots surrounding Wychmere Harbor leaving the small piece of land at the south east of the pond undeveloped. By the early 1930's this land was being used for boat repair and storage, and that's when Bill Lee moved Lee Shipbuilding Company over from the west side of the channel by the Snow Inn (near where Thompson's Clam Bar ended up) to the east side. In 1933 he built new boat building sheds and a small railway. It was in these new buildings in 1933 that the Stone Horse Yacht Club was initally founded. Three years later, in 1936 with a group of partners Bill Lee founded Harwich Port Boat Works.

Over the years the boatyard that Bill Lee founded in 1936 has changed immensely. Newer buildings were built in the 1950's, then changed again in the 1980's. Docks have come and go. Bulkheads have changed. The original railway became a ramp. Ownership changed hands. There have been hurricanes, floods and most recently a tornado. But through it all we're still here and we're still doing what we love most, working on boats and dreaming about the sea.
Our little boatyard has been a real working waterfront for over 100 years, and despite the rapid loss of waterfront land on Cape Cod due to the twin threats of over-development and nature, hopefully in another 100 years there will still be a little boatyard at the entrance to Wychmere Harbor, doing what it does best.

Credit: History and photos courtesy www.threeharbors.com