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Welcome to J.R. Maxwell’s, located in the heart of historic Bath, Maine “The City of Ships”.
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This building was constructed in 1840 by John Elliot after the previous structure, the Winship House, burned in 1838. The Elliot House, as it was called, was a very elegant hotel that for many years towered as the tallest building in Bath. After changing hands a number of times, the building finally saw the care, restoration and refurnishing
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needed to bring it back to life. In 1979, J.R. Maxwell & Co. opened its doors, offering a bill of fare suitable for any ship’s captain. At Maxwell’s, quality at reasonable prices is the key.
Shipbuilding began nearby on the Kennebec at the first settlement in Maine, the Popham Colony. There they built the first ocean-going vessel in this country, the 30-ton pinnace Virginia. Throughout the 1700s the area yards produced ships that were loaded with furs, fish and lumber for trading around the world. By 1850 everything needed to build and outfit a ship was available here and Bath was better known to merchants in Shanghai then were Chicago or Los Angeles. Maine was supreme in wooden shipbuilding in the 1870s and ‘80s as the shipwrights refined the speedy clippers into the downeasters, undoubtedly the highest development of the sailing ship. Today, modern tankers, warships, and merchant vessels are built in Bath, and it is the nation’s oldest active shipbuilding city.
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