Dr Weld's Cottage No. Haven

Dr Weld's Cottage No. Haven

Dr. Weld's Cottage on North Haven Dr. Weld is likely Dr. Charles Weld, a wealthy Bostonian physician and North Haven rusticator for many years as well as financier of the J. O. Brown Shipyard. James Osmond Brown started The J.O. Brown & Sons Shipyard in 1888, a time when the economy was booming under the first term of President Grover Cleveland and has built and repaired boats through two world wars, a depression and several other major economic downturns. A wealthy Boston physician - Dr. Charles Weld - had urged Brown to start the business and commissioned him to build what would be called North Haven dinghies. The boats became popular for sailing races. Brown moved into larger nearby quarters in 1897 when a clam factory closed. Weld purchased the building and signed a lease-to-buy agreement with Brown so that he could expand his thriving business. The business' heyday was from that period until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The boatyard built the island's first motorboat - a 14-foot-long boat with a 1.5-horsepower gasoline engine - in 1902. The boatyard is still in business today (2016). In 1892 Dr. Charles Weld had the steamboat, Sylvia, built which ran daily trips to Rockland from April to October. That service was discontinued in 1901.