L. A. Dunton

The L. A. Dunton is a wooden fishing schooner about 37 meters long with two tall masts. The hull was built from different types of wood like white oak, yellow pine, and maple, which was typical for the skilled shipbuilding of that time.

The vessel was built in 1921 at a shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts, and then worked as a fishing boat along the New England coast. After about 13 years, it stopped being used for fishing.

The schooner shows how fishing communities on the New England coast worked and lived in the early 1900s. The way it was built tells you about the daily lives of fishermen from that era.

The vessel is now at a museum harbor where visitors can examine the ship's design and construction methods up close. A visit gives you a good understanding of the skilled work that went into building a sailing ship of this kind.

Of the many fishing schooners that once sailed New England's coast, only a few remain with their original equipment still intact. The L. A. Dunton belongs to this rare group and shows you how these ships actually looked when they were ready to work.