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Charles Lagerbom teaches AP US History at Belfast Area High School and lives in Northport.  He is author of "Whaling in Maine" and "Maine to Cape Horn,."

Jutting out into Searsport Harbor, situated on the mainland directly across from Sears Island and abutted by Long Cove, is the geographic feature known as Mack Point. It has had a pretty distinguished maritime history. Searsport was originally part of the 1760 Frankfort Plantation and even earlier, General Samuel Waldo, who had bought land in the area in 1720, tried but failed to make this area the capital of Massachusetts colony.

During the 1800s, at least 17 shipyards operated here producing over 200 ships. Searsport itself became incorporated in 1845 when parts of Belfast and Prospect were combined. The point of land was likely named in the 1840s or 1850s for Searsport ship captain William McGilvery, who sailed from the area on the bark E. Churchill (1844-46); bark Henrietta (1847); schooner Geneva (1848); brig Sarah (1849); bark J.B. Johnson (1850) and brig Harriet H. McGilvery (1851).

During the Irish potato famine in 1847, McGilvery carried a cargo of grain to Ireland in the bark Henrietta.

Potato Shed at Mack Point, where potatoes were stored prior to shipment out. (Eastern Collection LB2007.1.106372, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

During the Civil War, he installed a telegraph instrument in Edwards’ dry goods store in Searsport, so war news was received, and a daily bulletin read from the store’s front door. In 1859, he formed a shipyard partnership with Capt. Daniel S. Goodell Sr. and built ships at Mack’s Point until 1865. He died in 1876 and was buried in Searsport’s Elmwood Cemetery off Route 1.

William McGilvery and his grave in Elmwood Cemetery, Searsport (Grave photo by Charles H. Lagerbom)

By the end of the 19th century, shipbuilding had faded from the area, but Searsport and Mack Point were well on their way to becoming one of five official cargo ports in the state and Maine’s second largest deep-water port. Managed by Maine Port Authority, it was (and still is) ideally situated for transporting goods to and from sea by vessels and to and from the interior by railroad and road. It is just 87 nautical miles northeast of Portland. With a 40-foot depth at mean low water and an average tidal fluctuation of 10 feet, Searsport became the Penobscot Bay shipping terminus for the Northern Maine Seaport Railroad.

The railroad opened a line at Mack Point in 1905, operated by Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. Potatoes, timber, and other local products from around the state arrived to be shipped out by boat, while tons of coal were delivered for use by Maine locomotives. Mack Point quickly became home to the town’s industrial district.

: A six-masted schooner at Mack Point circa 1908, the coal and freight terminal for the Northern Maine Seaport Railroad which opened in 1905. (Public Domain)

A large wharf was built in 1905 by the B. & A. Railroad. That same year, Penobscot Coal and Wharf Company opened their pier at Mack Point, owned by C.H. Sprague. The deep-water shipping port was served by steam-powered cranes and special coal-carrying ships, many of them six-mast schooners, only 10 of which were ever built between 1900 and 1910.

On a typical winter day, the six-master would unload coal into hopper cars which traveled down the track to where rail cars stood ready. Jobs could be found with the railroad or dock facilities. It was a constant and busy operation, affording employment for many in the area, as well as attracting immigrants.

Three unidentified railroad workers, probably recent immigrants who were section men or “gandy dancers,” pause at their work to pose on a railroad siding at Mack Point. (Eastern Collection LB2007.1.111145, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

By the 1930s, steam colliers had replaced the six-masters as well as most of the five- and four-mast schooners. It was the end of an era. Coal was still worth shipping, but to stay in business, the bucket cranes were repurposed to unload similar bulk cargos like salt and gypsum, a commodity used in the paper industry. The cranes were finally taken down in 2003.

In 1907, the American Agricultural Chemical Company built a huge fertilizer production plant, along with a pier, on the west side at Mack Point. The complex was serviced by ships as well as B. & A.’s freight line.

Open hopper cars loaded with coal at a railroad yard in the Sprague Dock Terminal complex at Mack Point. (Harriet Hichborn Collection LB2015.12.198, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

A new B. & A. Railway pier at Mack Point was finished in 1926. Aroostook County’s potato harvest traveled by train to the port and was stored in a large white potato shed until ready for shipment. This pier replaced the capability that B. & A. had with their more elaborate piers at Cape Jellison, especially after those facilities burned in 1924.

With railroad capabilities, C.H. Sprague & Son bought their own coal mines and specially designed ships and became a major supplier of coal to European allies during World War II. The port also became a major loading point for European-bound ammunition. There, 250-pound, 500-pound and 1,000-pound bombs, some of them incendiary, were delivered to Mack Point for shipment to Europe. There are a series of photo images at the Penobscot Marine Museum which shows Mack Point in World War II. They are worth checking out.

: Picking up and loading 250-pound bombs aboard ship. (Mack Point Collection LB2012.16.161, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

As a result of the war, more of Mack Point was developed. Enlisted men’s quarters were also located in a barracks off Station Avenue in Searsport. Guard houses warned of loose lips and dangerous explosives. Liberty ships arrived at the piers and loaded with ammunition or general cargo, all destined for the ETO, or European Theater of Operations. Ships would then gather in the Gulf of Maine and form up for their convoy runs across the Atlantic Ocean.

Guard house at Mack Point during World War II with notice for men to turn in matches due to dangers of explosive armaments. (Mack Point Collection LB2012.16.93, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

Aerial view of Mack Point in 1945 (Courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

Loading on west side of pier at Mack Point during World War II (Mack Point Collection LB2012.16.160, courtesy of Penobscot Marine Museum)

After the war and during the 1950s, Mack Point remained important for the shipping and handling of petroleum products. Large tanks were built to store delivered jet fuel that was then transported to Loring Air Force Base in Limestone through a pipeline. When Loring closed, Sprague purchased these relics of the Cold War from the Department of Defense. Sprague’s tanks now are used to store Number 2 home-heating oil.

Mack Point still plays an economically important role in the area’s economy. Many businesses depend on the shipping and handling of cargoes such as lumber, paper, fuel, and chemicals. The facility also handles deliveries of oil, gypsum, salt and forest products, and even parts for wind turbines.

Entrance to Mack Point today (photo by Charles H. Lagerbom)

The railroad pier is 800 feet long and 100 feet wide. Belt conveyors haul cargo to and from four large warehouses. Tracks run along each side of the pier and can accommodate two dozen railway cars on the west side and a dozen on the east. Sprague’s pier is 614 feet long with an adjacent berth 850-foot long. These berths are frequently dredged to maintain a mean low water depth of 32 feet.

There is also a turning basin 500 feet wide. The railway yard is large enough to hold 700 rail cars. Mack Point’s piers unload a wide variety of liquid and dry cargoes. The Sprague dock handles liquid cargo and can accommodate vessels up to 700 feet in length. The Port Authority dock handles dry cargo and can accommodate vessel up to 800 feet in length.

Sprague Energy Corporation owns and operates the Liquid-Bulk Pier, used to ship, and receive petroleum products, logs, caustic soda, and dry bulk commodities, such as coke, coal, salt, iron oxide, gypsum rock, cement clinker, and silica sand. Cargo handling at Mack Point is provided by Sprague, which also operates the tank farm. Rail service now is provided by the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railway. Mack Point has more than 6,500 feet of onsite rail siding that is connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Dry Bulk Pier was rebuilt in the early 2000s and dedicated for dry bulk products. It is operated by Sprague and the Irving Oil Corporation. The GAC Chemical Corporation owns the Plant Wharf, which is served by tracks with a 12-rail-car capacity and is still connected with the B. & A. Railroad.

Tug services at Mack Point are provided by Penobscot Bay Tractor Tug Company which has four large tugs. (More on them later!) The depth in the turning basin off Mack Point is 33 feet at MLW or mean low water. Loaded ships arriving at Mack Point usually have to wait for sufficient tide before berthing. The tide range in Searsport is nine feet and there is good holding ground one mile southwest in about 50 feet of water for any ship needing to wait.

A few years back, a heated debate raged locally over Mack Point being a proposed site for a 23-million-gallon liquid petroleum tank. The proposal was ultimately rejected. Today Mack Point is mostly a wet cargo port, 140 acres of the site managed by Sprague. Irving Oil operates a smaller area importing heating oil and gasoline. Mack Point sees about 150 ships and barges per year, mostly in the 400-800-foot range. In March 2020, Gov. Janet Mills announced her administration would examine the site for opportunities supporting Maine’s renewable energy industry, specifically offshore wind. Whether it be coal, six-masters, 1,000-pound incendiary bombs, gypsum, heating oil, or now maybe off-shore wind equipment, the use of Searsport’s Mack Point goes on.

Charles Lagerbom teaches AP US History at Belfast Area High School and lives in Northport.  He is author of “Whaling in Maine” and “Maine to Cape Horn,” available through Historypress.com.

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