Prospect, Maine: Prospect’s Ferry Store and Post Office stood on the wharf at the Prospect Ferry Landing at the river’s edge of the Ferry Road near Fort Knox. Albert Harriman operated the country style store which offered grain, groceries, yard goods, penny candy, and cracker and pork barrels. With its second floor dance hall with hardwood floors, it also became a social center. Albert added a livery stable. The store catered to the locals, Fort personnel, and the ferry passengers who crossed the Penobscot to Bucksport and back.
From the 1800s to the early 1930s the store was run by several people. Albert Harriman’s daughter, Almeda, and husband Byron Avery ran the business after Albert. They were followed by Edward Grindle for 17 years. The last to run the store were Mr. Grindle’s daughter and her husband, Percy Mills. Mr. Mills added a delivery wagon to his business. The construction of the Waldo Hancock Bridge in 1931 brought the end of the ferry and the store’s success. (Source: History of Prospect, Maine 1759 – 1979 by Alice Verrill Ellis.)
Contributed by: Carol Johnson, Prospect Historical Society