History of Linekin Bay Bed & Breakfast

East Boothbay is a renowned ship building center. From the early days of wooden ships to the present day sailing and steel boats, the craftsmanship of these boat builders is evident in all aspects of life here including the houses.

Holbrook House 1890's
Holbrook House & attached Holbrook Store - circa 1890's

The house was originally built in 1878 and replaced the former structure known from the 1840's until app. 1915 as the Holbrook House. During that same time a portion of the Holbrook House also contained an adjoining store called the Holbrook Store.

For 75 years the Holbrook Store served as the main source of supplies to residents of Linekin Neck.

Throughout most of it's existence the Holbrook store was primarily run by two brothers, Eliphalet & Ezekiel Holbrook.

In her January 1997 two part article titled "Out of Our Past" about life on Linekin Neck in 1866, Barbara Rumsey, of the Boothbay Region Historical Society offers this summation about the Holbrook Store's role during the mid 1800's:

"The Holbrook business filled many roles. It served as a grocery store, a hardware store, a dry goods store, a stable, a bank, a renter of heavy equipment (oxen), a shoe repair shop, and a boat storage facility. You begin to see how such a typical small community supplied everything for itself with one stop shopping. The Holbrook store was the mall."

Barbara utilized the information contained in a donated 216 page - E. & E. (Ezekiel Jr. and Eliphalet) Holbrook Store account book from 1866, and her extensive expertise and historical knowledge to write the article.
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Click here to read Barbara's entire article titled:
"Out of Our Past"

The entries & (prices not shown above) read as follows

G.W. Whitehouse - 3/4 lbs. lard (20¢)
Nathaniel Bennett - 2 lbs. lard (54¢)
George E. Vanhorn - 1 gallon molasses (60¢), 1/4 grasp matches (55¢) and 1/2 lb. tea (56¢)
George Martin - Cash for boots (Credited $2.20)


Click on a gravestone to view a readable enlargement.	Like many New England families of this era, the Holbrook's had their own family cemetery in which they laid their loved ones to final rest. The weathered gravesites of Eliphalet & Ezekiel Holbrook have been lying just several feet apart for nearly 100 years in the nearby Holbrook Cemetery.

During the renovation process of the B&B, which occurred throughout 1998 and into the first part of 1999, we had the opportunity to learn a great deal about the history and construction of this house.

The Holbrook House - circa 1920's or 1930's. By this time it was entirely used as a house and no longer served the community as a store.

Several clapboards and a threshold identifying builders of the era were discovered.

Backside of a clapboard

These artifacts are presently on display at the Boothbay Region Historical Society and Museum, located in the town of Boothbay Harbor.

Some things they just don't make like they used to. The doorbell at the Linekin Bay Bed & Breakfast is well over 100 years old and is still in service and working just fine.

It is a manually operated system. Care to hear it for yourself? To do so, just click the speaker icon.

Click to hear the doorbell
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Below to the left is an antique postcard that shows the view looking down Ocean Point Road taken from in front of the Holbrook House (now the Linekin Bay Bed & Breakfast). That is a wooden sidewalk running along the left side of the roadway - we believe this scene is from the 1920's.

Above is a photograph taken in May of 1999 from approximately the same location as the postcard on the left.