Calais Dry Docks, c1910
William Paxton, Artist
This little gem came up on EBay at a very inexpensive price and I knew I had to have it. It’s an 8 x 10 painting of the Calais, Maine dry docks in the early years of the 20th century.
Because my 2X great grandfather, Calvin Segee Adams, was a Calais boat builder, as was his own father Daniel Adams, this little painting appealed to me.
Here are a couple of postcards depicting the harbor from the same time period:
Postcards in my personal collection
My new painting looks very much like Calais Harbor in these postcard photos and I can imagine Calvin Adams working on a new project.
Calvin Adams, right
It seems like I don’t find as many treasures coming up for sale on EBay as I did in the past, or perhaps it’s just that I’ve purchased so many out of a very limited group in existence.
However, I still check regularly and I’m glad I did. Otherwise, Mr. Paxton’s artwork wouldn’t be sitting on a table in my den. 🙂
If you don’t make it a habit to check online auctions for genealogy items, you are missing out on a great opportunity!
Lovely! My great-grandfather was born there in 1862 and his father (my ggf) died there in 1912, so this is what they would have seen all the time. Thank you for sharing these!