FREEPORT – The rich past and present of South Freeport’s working waterfront will be celebrated on Saturday with Harraseeket Day, a Freeport Historical Society-sponsored event featuring tours and sails aboard the windjammer Frances, pirate-themed kids’ activities, guided historic walking tours, knot-tying and oyster-shucking demonstrations, and maritime shanties and jigs.

With Freeport firmly established as a retail shopping mecca, the town’s role in shipbuilding is often overlooked or forgotten entirely, said Christina White, executive director for the historical society.

“The development of the Freeport area is very much tied to the water,” said White. “The peak of the working waterfront was the late 1700s into the 1800s. It was a vibrant industry and mirrored other parts of coastal Maine.”

At the head of tide on the Harraseeket River is Mast Landing, from which timber was shipped, particularly for use as masts. The estuary was dammed to provide waterpower for a gristmill, sawmill and fulling mill, with modest manufacturing and woodworking. Porter’s Landing was involved in shipbuilding, important in Freeport following the Revolutionary War and helped by the creation of a county road in 1780, which allowed for transport of building materials from the south and north.

“You put a road in and people will come. It provided that pathway from Freeport to Durham to provide trees,” said White.

The shipyards of South Freeport, all located at the intersection of South Freeport Road and Main Street, produced a variety of different vessels, from slow-moving “coasters” to ocean-crossing cargo ships that traveled the world over, said White.

“These ships stopped at many different ports along the way to pick up and drop off goods,” said White. “These were the long-haul trucks of their day.”

The industry reached its peak in the decade between 1850 and 1860, but declined with the end of the Civil War. South Freeport, the largest of the waterfront villages, once had four shipyards. According to Freeport Historical Society archivist Ned Allen, the real decline came at the end of the 1800s.

“Wooden shipbuilding became less economically viable,” said Allen. “Other communities continued building ships, most notably Bath, who adapted to the change in demand for other types of ships.”

Allen said at its peak, the shipbuilding industry in Freeport was a major employer and was quite a sight to see.

“There used to be a line a half mile long at the end of the workday in South Freeport of workers waiting for a lift home,” said White. “It’s evident in the architecture of Freeport, especially South Freeport, of the prosperity involved in shipbuilding. It’s substantially Greek Revival.”

The period of shipbuilding inactivity was briefly interrupted during both world wars as the national call to arms resurrected long-dormant shipyards in the area.

“There was still enough talent here to re-open the shipyards, which I find intriguing,” said White. “They were building Ferris-type vessels.”

According to the Department of Natural Resources, the Ferris ships were named after the naval architect Theodore E. Ferris, who designed both steel and wood ships for mass production. During World War II, Freeport produced “red oak” boats used primarily because sonar could not detect the wooden vessels, said White. I

n addition to shipbuilding, the Freeport waterfront had a sardine cannery and the collateral businesses to serve shipyard workers. In 1866, a Freeport sea captain, Josiah Mitchell, made his way into the world of Mark Twain when Twain – Samuel Clemens – was toiling as a reporter for the Sacramento Daily Union. Mitchell was the captain of the clipper ship Hornet when the ship caught fire near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. After leading his crew into lifeboats, Mitchell led a remarkable, 4,000 mile journey from South Africa to Hawaii without losing a crew member.

“The ship burned so fast that provisions were minimal,” said White.

Knowing a great story when he saw one, either real or imagined, Twain hailed Mitchell as a hero in a lengthy article that captured the imagination of the entire country.

“To this man’s good sense, cool judgment, perfect discipline, close attention to the smallest particulars which could conduce to the welfare of his crew or render their ultimate rescue more probable, that boat’s crew owe their lives,” wrote Twain “He has shown brain and ability that make him worthy to command the finest frigate in the United States, and a genuine unassuming heroism that entitle him to a Congressional medal. In the above remarks I am only echoing the expressed opinions of numbers of persons.”

Twain was actually in Hawaii at the time and traveled to San Francisco with Mitchell, said White. The harrowing story was even referenced in the 1962, Marlon Brando film, “Mutiny On the Bounty.”

The Twain story will be one of many exhibits on display during the celebration. Harraseeket Day is a major benefit for the 44-year-old historical society that takes months of planning without the benefit of a large staff.

“This is a major undertaking for us,” said White, one of only three full-time employees. “We work hard, happily I may add, and this is a way to interactive with the past to help us understand the present.”

The clipper ship Tam O’ Shanter, built in 1875 at the Soule Shipyard in South Freeport, is depicted in a painting by Chinese artist Pun Woo. The painting is hung in the administrative offices of the Freeport Historical Society, where it serves as a daily reminder of the rich seafaring and shipbuilding tradition of Freeport.