A History of There were many fishermen in those days and one can picture the Cove full of sail boats and dories with the men busily running around getting ready to go to the fishing grounds. As sails gave way to engines Duncan MacCannell was the first to have a gasoline engine in his boat and I can imagine the folk of the time saying that he would blow boat and himself up with the contraption. We can see that fishing was a subsistence occupation because of the low prices but lobsters could be had in abundance. Prices increased very slowly and stocks decreased, which led to drastic measures having to be taken in the industry. Trap limits had to be imposed as well as a limit on the number of licenses issued but these implementations have paid off. The factory, the cookhouse, the accomodations for fishermen are long gone; only three boats in recent years were anchored in the Cove, one belonging to young Duncan MacCannell , one to Norman MacLeod , son of George, also a fisherman, and one to Lome MacLeod, son of Norman. This year (1992) only one boat fishes out of the Cove, and that is Duncan's. A nostalgic era is gone and becoming a dimmer memory as time goes by. I have just learned that the well known Harris family owned a lobster cannery at Canoe Cove at one time. This is confirmed by the 1880 Atlas which shows that they owned the factory on the site later occupied by the Portland Packing Company. The owner, Critchlow Harris was the father of Robert, the noted artist, and William, the equally famous architect. William designed the labels for his father's lobster cans and a facsimile of these were put on display recently at a district Women's Institute convention at North River by Critchlow Harris' great grand daughter, Barbara Tuck McAndrew. An inside look at the Canoe Cove