The Guide Boat Trixie III
Belgrade has so much rich history that sometimes it flows beyond the town borders. As Town Historian, I have been trying to seek out some of this wayward history. Some Belgrade historical artifacts have found homes in local Maine museums, and some have traveled out of state. I hope to share some of this lost history and encourage readers to find history for themselves.
The first Belgrade historical artifact I encountered beyond Belgrade was the guide boat, Trixie III, at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The Trixie III is a wooden, Rangeley-style fishing boat with three chair seats. It was built by well-known Belgrade boat builder, Ralph Stewart in the late 1920s or early 1930s for John Asher Lambert, who owned Camp Liberty. The camp was located at the north end of Great Pond.
Among the items donated with the Trixie III was a lunch basket and tacked to the cover was a map of Great Pond, compliments of Johnson Marine Service. I recognized this map as the one on display at the Belgrade Historical Society. I knew that the Johnson family was very involved with boat building and repair in Belgrade Lakes Village, so I checked with fellow member of the society, Rod Johnson to find out more about this map.
Rod’s recollection concerning the map, was that his father, Clifford had redrawn an earlier version of the map drawn by Everett Johnson who owned Johnson Marine Service. Karl Johnson, Everett’s son, took over his dad’s marina in the 1950s, which later became Day’s Marina. The maps were often handed out at both locations — Clifford’s boat building and repair shop by the dam (now Lakepoint Real Estate) and Karl’s Marina (now the post office and 7 Lakes Alliance Annex).
In 1913, one of the earliest boat builders, Ernest Sola had built a 30′ × 50′ foot shop for the purpose of building wooden boats. He built at least three different boat designs, all of which were used as fishing boats on Great and Long Ponds. Ralph Stewart bought the building from Sola and continued to build wooden boats. Clifford Johnson became an apprentice to Stewart before and after WWII and later became the owner of the shop. As different materials such as aluminum and fiberglass began to be used in the construction of small watercraft, the demand for wooden boats declined. Clifford Johnson continued to repair wooden boats and offered fishing boat rentals among other services. The Boat Shop eventually was torn down and burned.
My visit to the Maine Maritime Museum took place a few years ago, so I checked with the museum about the status of the Trixie III prior to writing this article. Currently the Trixie III is NOT on public display but is still in the collection of the Maine Maritime Museum. However, the museum recently opened a special exhibit, Upta Camp. This exhibit investigates the history of Maine’s sporting and leisure camp tradition. While the exhibit features Rangeley and Moosehead regions, Belgrade’s history is very similar. I recently had an opportunity to visit this exhibit and would highly recommend it.
If you are looking for a short-day trip away from Belgrade, the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath is a wonderful place to go. For more information, visit their website.
Dianne Dowd is vice president of the Belgrade Historical Society.
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