Ames Era 1872 - 1881

The stunning Second Empire-style mansion is built. It was commissioned by Captain Albert Franklin Ames, a wealthy Rockland sea captain, merchant, and operator of a massive fleet of lime-cask transport ships. He hired the prominent Maine architectural firm Kimball & Coombs to design it

It sits in a prime location in the historic district, showcasing classic Victorian (with some Federal and Queen Anne influences) architecture. 

August 1872: Ames went to a public auction and bought a 75% ownership stake (three-quarters) of the land from deceased Alfred H. Kimball’s estate for $525. 

August 1872: Isaac Abbott sells an "undivided quarter part" of the land to Albert F. Ames for $275. 

April 1873: Eight months later, William H. Glover sells Ames a 20-foot-wide slice of land for $200. 

July 21, 1873: Just three months later, Ames sells the exact same 20-foot slice of land right back to Glover for $275. 

July 31, 1873: Just ten days later, Ames goes to another neighbor, Oliver G. Hall, and buys a 40-foot wide chunk of land on the western side for $550. 

1874 (Construction): Having spent $475 over the course of a year to buy up the neighboring slices of land, Ames finally has a large enough parcel to hire Kimball & Coombs to design the house.

Albert F. Ames was a true Maine coastal tycoon. Born in 1831, he built his immense wealth as both a merchant and a sea captain. While the deeds you found showed his investments in the lime rock quarries, that was only half of his business empire.

Ames also manufactured the specialized wooden casks needed to transport the volatile lime, and he owned a massive fleet of ships that distributed his lime products all the way down the East Coast. The lime from his quarries and transported on his ships was quite literally used to build the rapidly expanding American cities of the late 19th century. He also took on municipal projects for the city of Rockland; in 1877, city records show he was paid $712.58 to construct two town reservoirs.

Ames passed away in 1887 at the age of 56—but his legacy includes one of the most famous maritime mysteries of the century.

The Ghost Ship of Captain Ames

Perhaps the most incredible story is the fate of one of Captain Ames's ships, the W. L. White.

The W. L. White was a massive, three-masted lumber schooner owned by Ames. Shortly after Ames's death, the ship was caught in the Great Blizzard of March 13, 1888, off the coast of Delaware Bay. The storm was so severe that the crew was forced to abandon the vessel.

However, the ship did not sink. Instead, the W. L. White became one of the most famous "drifting derelicts" (ghost ships) in maritime history. Left entirely to the mercy of the ocean, Captain Ames's abandoned schooner drifted across the North Atlantic for an astonishing 310 days, covering 5,190 miles.

Ship after ship reported terrifying sightings of the waterlogged, unmanned schooner silently drifting through the fog along the Gulf Stream. The ghost ship finally ended its legendary journey on January 23, 1889, when it crashed ashore on Haskeir Island in the Hebrides of Scotland. Today, modern oceanographers from institutions like Woods Hole actually use the recorded 310-day trajectory of Ames's ghost ship to study North Atlantic ocean currents!