Taking a tour of the Marblehead Sign Museum in the basement of Abbot Hall is always a reminder of how many beloved small businesses and artisans have lived and worked among us. When a cherished, long-time small business closes in Marblehead, it always feels like the end of an era.
Nauticals of Marblehead was once located above the Muffin Shop on Washington Street and was a successful business that offered tables and other creative objects crafted from the hulls of old wooden boats. One of the favorite gift items for locals were custom-made nautical chart trays.
After decades in business, owner Davita “Dede” Nowland of Marblehead closed shop for personal reasons in 2020 and let the 128 Washington St. location go in 2022.
“It was heartbreaking, but I was ready to let it go,” Nowland said. “But the demand for the nautical chart trays never waned. Friends, family and especially past customers kept asking me if I was not making them, who was? Because they said someone really should. They still really wanted them.”
Since there was still a brisk demand, Nowland always kept an eye on someone who would be interested in the chart tray part of the business. She figured it was just a matter of finding the right person who “got it.” It was important to her that that person appreciated what was so unique about Nauticals of Marblehead.
A lifelong sailor, Nowland earned a master’s degree in business in 1987, and was drawn to the boatyards of Marblehead, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea after moving to the area from Connecticut.
“For me, boats have always pointed to romance, to freedom, to adventure,” Nowland said.
In those days, she observed many wooden boats languishing in various states of disrepair. Although most wooden boat owners in those days were diligent about caring for them, it was inevitable that some fell victim to life’s changing priorities. When someone could no longer care for or restore their older wooden boat, they often ended up on the fringes of boatyards and backyards during their final stages of life, abandoned.
Finding Dulcinea
“One day while exploring the working waterfront in our area, I discovered an old wooden sailboat named Dulcinea. She was a Hinckley sou’wester 34, and I know she had been a beautiful sailing boat in her day,” Nowland said. “But there wasn’t much left to her by then.”
After asking around, Nowland learned that she was built in the early 1950s and despite her former owners’ restoration intentions, Dulcinea seemed ‘beyond reasonable restoration.’ It was also evident that her valued assets had been salvaged apparently by other boatyard scavengers.
“I was immediately drawn to Dulcinea’s shape and formidable heritage. I drew a sketch using part of the hull, the only part of her left, of what I thought would make a beautiful coffee table,” Nowland said. “And then I set out to find the help I would need to make it happen.”
She started with boatbuilders because she knew they understood the materials and how wooden boats were built. The first shipwright she shared her idea with was Thad Danielson, former owner of Redd’s Pond Boatworks in Marblehead.
“I told him about the wooden Hinckley and he was at first intrigued, but when I said he would have to begin by cutting her up, he couldn’t bring himself to do that,” she noted.
Turned out, cutting up wooden boats remained a flashpoint. As her business model grew and she discovered and salvaged more old boats, she recalls hearing indirectly through Danielson that the editor of Wooden Boat Magazine disapproved of her using one specific boat built in 1938. But Danielson came to her defense because the boat in question, in his qualified opinion, was not an excellent choice for a restoration project. He pointed out that unless money was no object or this boat held an emotional bond — there were better options. He insisted “You can’t save them all….”
Giving each boat ‘dignity’
“Plus, I learned that nobody wanted to be the one who sealed the final fate of a wooden boat in their charge — to be the one who gave up or couldn’t give them what they needed to survive,” Nowland added. “Because of that, it was even more important that I documented each piece we made. I gave each boat dignity. I was able to spotlight the craftsmanship. I was able to eventually show even the skeptical shipwrights and boatyard workers the before and after of the early pieces. We all knew that instead of turning these boats into firewood, I was saving something that was once the hull of a beautifully constructed wooden boat.”
As her custom pieces became larger and more time-consuming and costly, her local fan base and friends encouraged her to add a line of gift items that were more affordable.
“And so, the nautical chart tray was born,” she said.
When she did eventually close Nauticals of Marblehead, she hoped one day she could find the right person to carry it on and three years ago she wandered into the booth of Michael Weiss Designs at Abbot Hall during the Festival of Arts.
Fast forward to today
“We hit it off and ‘got’ each other right away,” said Weiss, whose workshop and showroom is at 10 Tioga Way. “We began talking about a collaboration. Last Christmas at the Artisans Show at Abbot Hall, Weiss presented the first production run.
“At least 10 people excitedly asked if Dede was making trays again, commenting that they had bought one for themselves or given one as a gift over the years,” Weiss said.
“We then presented the trays at the Paradise City Arts Show this past March and we could see the momentum gaining. Already, a realtor here in town has bought several of them as gifts for her clients,” he added.
The trays — which will be under the Nauticals of Marblehead and Michael Weiss Designs names — now share a website and a common goal to restore and revive Nowland’s vision. That includes offering custom work and using the wooden boat parts still stored at Montgomery’s boatyard in Gloucester.
Weiss reminisced, “I remember spending part of a wonderful afternoon in a room on the second floor of the Eastern Yacht Club. As wonderful as any museum I have ever visited. On every wall were images — photographs, drawings, models — of boat hulls. The sculptor in me was transfixed. The grace of the shapes, the line, the sweep of the hull, the meeting of wood and water, the sense of mass and movement were palpable. The beauty is inescapable.”
And now there is the opportunity to share that magic.
And, of course, when it comes to boats, there must be an official launch. Look for the
Michael Weiss Designs Booth at the Marblehead Festival of Arts on the grounds of
Abbot Hall for three days over the July 4 holiday. For more information, go to nauticalsmarblehead.com.
