About Us

Bucks Harbor Marine stands on one of the most historic maritime sites in Maine-- in one of its most beautiful and protected harbors.

Our granite dock was first established in 1814 to load coasting schooners carrying granite block and ice to New York and Boston. In the War of 1812, a British Frigate class Man-O-War spent the winter in what is our present-day mooring field during the Siege of Castine (just around Cape Rosier from our Harbor).

As fishing activity increased and the pastime of yachting grew, the dock became a favorite stopping point to unload catch or rest between ports. In the 1920's and 30's, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would often stop to sample his favorite homemade ice cream. Today, the ice cream is upscale Haagen Daaz….but the President's grandson stops by each summer.

Over the years generations of summer "rusticators" learned to sail at the Bucks Harbor Yacht Club which is one of the oldest in the country. Many of the native sons of Deer Isle were valued recruits for America's Cup Races. Today, their tradition is carried on by the many outstanding boatbuilders and craftsmen still working on wooden boats in our waters. E.B.White (Charlotte's Web) and Robert McCloskey (One Morning In Maine) lived among our Islands and wrote about the region. (Our dock is pictured in McCloskey's Time of Wonder; and Seth Hawkins, his grandson learned about boats as our dockboy. Today, Seth is First Mate on a New York Harbor tug.)

Jerry & Lois Kirschenbaum acquired the business in 1993 and in the ensuing 18 years rebuilt the Marina Facility, increased Yacht Services, and created a unique Sail & Power Charter Fleet. Today, Bucks Harbor Charters operates the largest charter fleet of Grand Banks and Albin trawers in the Mid-Coast and Downeast regions. All of this was accomplished without changing the essential beauty and peace of our Harbor and Town.

It is why the Kirschenbaum's personal boat is a meticulously restored Grand Banks "woodie" called BRIGADOON.

Jerry is a former U.S. Navy Navigation office, a frequent writer on maritime subjects. He has sailed the Maine coast for over 30 years and has two Transatlantic crossings in his logbook. Lois grew up on the Jersey shore and has fine memories of fishing with her father. They and their Scotties Barclay and Horatio live on Little Deer Isle, just across the Eggemoggin Reach from Bucks Harbor Marine.