Photo Archive

Clay Cove no longer exists in Portland--it has since been filled in.  Should you want to stand where Clay Cove once existed, you would have to position yourself on the corner of Broad and Fore Street.

During colonial times, before the wharfs here were even built, Clay Cove served as a commercial hub for the town of Portland.

Image from Shettleworth's "Mr. Goodhue Remembers Portland." 1973. p. 32.

Perhaps no image captures the drastic physical changes that have occured in Portland better that this drawing of Deering Woods, now Deering Oaks park.  The bridge in the center is now covered by Forest Avenue.  The water that can be seen in the foreground was part of Back Bay before it was filled in.

Image from Shettleworth's "Mr. Goodhue Remembers Portland." 1973. p. 60.

Here you can see how Fore Street used to be waterfront property before the construction of Congress Street in the 1850s.  Here the ships are tied up along the street, where buildings are today.

Image from Jones's "Old Portland Town." p 110.

Here is a photograph of a ship yard located below the Eastern Promenade taken during the 1870's, a time of great prosperity in the waterfront.

Image from Sleeper's "Images of America: Portland." p.73.

This is a sketch of the last ship built at Dyer Yards, the GENERAL Warren, being launched from Fore Street, between Hancock and Mountfort Streets.

Within a few years, the shipyards along Fore Street were replaced with rail yards as the focus shifted from waterfront to rail transportation.

Image from Shettleworth's "Mr. Goodhue Remembers Portland." 1973. p. 27.