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After nearly a century as a community beachside fixture, Lincolnville’s Lobster Pound Restaurant last served lobster in 2023, before it suffered extensive storm damage the following winter and shut down.
But now the space has come back to life, and this month marks its building’s 100th anniversary — albeit with a different purpose now, according to one shop worker who declined to be identified.
The Lobster Pound on Route 1 in the village of Lincolnville Beach is open this summer as a beachside gift shop. The business’ website says the building now also houses a “mini moose” museum.
“Please note that the Lobster Pound Restaurant is now permanently closed,” the website says.
The building proudly displays the same name as the restaurant did, but now sells souvenirs indicating time spent in Vacationland. Sweatshirts, t-shirts, magnets, postcards, and even lobster sandals are for sale in the now repurposed space after back-to-back storms in January 2024 flooded the property.
The Lafayette family, who had owned the restaurant since 2017, put the property back on the market last year, after storm-driven ocean waves washed into the building and caused extensive damage.
The new owner of the business declined to be interviewed for this story.
According to a gift shop employee who declined to be identified, a seawall, which still hasn’t been rebuilt, was taken down by the first storm. Because the seawall was compromised, the second storm flooded the kitchen, destroying the equipment inside.
The property has a history of flooding, which had caused previous owners to face ever-increasing insurance costs. But according to the employee, running the business as a gift shop instead of a restaurant makes it easier to mitigate that threat due to the removability of its merchandise.
Everything inside the shop can easily be removed at the end of a season in case flooding threatens the building again, the employee said, though some people have wondered whether anything other than a restaurant would work at the site, given the former success and longevity of the restaurant.
“The lobster pound was a restaurant for such a long time and holds so many memories for people,” the employee said. “Hardly a day goes by where somebody doesn’t come in and say, ‘You know, I ate dinner here with my parents, and they’re not with me anymore,’ and that kind of thing.”
The beachfront location, however, is one of the factors that keeps people coming back. The property is located directly on the beach and has views of Penobscot Bay, the island of Islesboro, and the terminal for the ferry that travels back and forth.
Previous patrons who stop by remember the business for what it had been, with some only learning now that the restaurant is no more.
Jessie Klein, a Frankfort resident who splits her time between the midcoast and Upper West Manhattan with her family, on Thursday stopped in and asked “Is [the restaurant] gone?” It’s something the employee says she has gotten used to explaining at least twice a day.
Klein said she and her family had been coming to The Lobster Pound for years up to now. The family had been in Maine for about a month before venturing to Lincolnville and finding out about the change.
“We loved it,” Klein said. “We come up as much as we can. I love coming here.”
