WILLOW CREEK — A granite historical marker was dedicated this week at Thorne’s Bend, commemorating the Thorne & Sons Shipworks that operated on the site from 1803 to 1882.
The marker, a six-foot block of Mount Desert Island granite, bears an inscription reading: “Thorne & Sons Shipworks — 1803–1882 — On this site, four generations of the Thorne family built vessels that sailed the rivers and coasts of Maine.”
The marker was paid for and placed at the urging of Eleanor Thorne, William Thorne’s granddaughter, who had campaigned for two years to secure recognition for the shipyard. “My great-grandfather launched the first vessel from this bend in the river before Maine was even a state,” Mrs. Thorne said at the dedication. “I wanted my grandchildren to be able to stand where he stood.”
The dedication ceremony drew 120 people, including descendants of the Thorne family, selectmen from three neighboring towns, and a representative from the Maine Historical Society. Jedidiah Thorne — then five years old and attending his first public event — stood at the front of the crowd, holding his grandmother’s hand.
“Seventy-one years after the last vessel was launched, the Thorne name still carries weight in this town,” said Arthur Whitcomb in his Gazette editorial. “The marker will stand long after the last of us who remember the shipyard are gone. That is as it should be.”
The marker can be found at the bend in the Willow River, approximately 200 yards downstream from the mill race outlet. It is accessible via a short path from River Road.