Article and Photography by Tim Du Vernet 

A century ago, Charlie Duke and Ernie Greavette formed a partnership under the name of Duke and Greavette. The partnership lasted until 1926, when Duke took over the shop and formed Duke Motor Service. Over time, the name Duke’s became a marker of a well-built, handsome watercraft.

In the beginning, boats were first built in a shop that Ernie Greavette had taken over from John Matheson, located just below the locks in Port Carling. In 1931, a fire ripped through the village and destroyed many of the buildings in town including the boat shop and storage shed. While many wooden boats were destroyed in the fire, some were saved by being pushed out of the burning shop into the water below. After the fire, a new building was constructed, which has been a fixture of the Port Carling waterfront landscape since.

The most common and best-known model of boat constructed by Duke’s was the Playmate. These were designed and built beginning in the 1930s. Duke’s also built a number of custom launches, particularly in the 1920s, which still ply the waters today, such as Osprey II. As the Second World War broke out, the boat builders of Muskoka were building craft for the navy, such as mine sweepers.

The cycle of life in Port Carling is very much tied to seasonal changes and the wooden boatbuilding industry flourished at a time when roads had yet to give convenient access to the shoreline. There were also no alternatives to wooden boats until fibreglass started to replace wood in the 1970s.

At various times throughout its years, many members of the Duke family were involved in the boat business as well. The traditions of boatbuilding at Duke’s continued essentially unchanged for about 80 years until Ed Skinner retired from managing the shop and the building was put up for sale. In 2011, Kathy McCarthy and Jeremy Fowler purchased the historic building.

“The name Duke's is already established and has been around for over 100 years in wooden boating history,” says McCarthy. “Some of the most famous boat builders in Muskoka have worked in this shop, and currently, most of the boat builders out there have worked at Duke's.”

Initially, McCarthy and Fowler were convinced that Duke Boats Ltd. would continue as a 'Wooden Boat Centre of Muskoka.' Offering boat sales, brokerage, service and, of course, new boat construction and restoring and refinishing of old boats. They continued to manage the restoration of wooden boats for nearly a decade with Eric Marr and Sam Diller in the shop.

“There isn't a better location to build boats in Muskoka,” says McCarthy. “Port Carling is the hub of the Muskoka Lakes and we're situated right on the Indian River; it's incredible. It's the perfect match, perfect location, amazing boatbuilders – it's a winning combination.”

Jeremy Masterson, who worked at Duke’s back in the late 1980’s remembers some of the historic boats that came through the shop such as MTP5, a Toronto Police boat.

“The restoration was very extensive,” says Masterson, “made more so by a previous repair in which the boat builder had insisted on carving his initials into the back of every single piece he put into it. We had to replace all of these pieces whether or not they were actually bad but because the carvings were visible on the interior and were not appropriate for the type of restoration we were doing.”

It doesn’t take much of a stretch in time to remember when the Duke Boats building was a busy boatbuilding and repair shop. Ed Skinner took over the boatbuilding business from the Duke family in 1977 and, in partnership with Rick Terry, formed Duke Marine Services. From that point, new boats were no longer built but nearly all aspects of wooden boats continued to be serviced.

The old building was filled with ancient hand tools, machines and hardware for addressing all the functions of a wooden boat: machining, shaping wood and refinishing. The arrangement of the pulleys and machines dictated what stages of repairs and restoration would happen in one part of the building or another.

“Working at Duke's was a unique experience,” explains Masterson. “The old boat house had a certain ambiance that could be had nowhere else. Especially in winter. I remember there was still a section of line shaft that powered the metal lathe on the ground level with pulleys and wide belts. When the big electric motor was turned on to run the lathe, the entire building shook with the unbalanced shafts. The varnisher would take a week off afterwards to let the dust settle.”

One of the most entertaining aspects of the Duke building was the process by which boats found their way from the water level docks to the second floor. A boat would come into the lower-level dock and then be hoisted up to the second floor. When the second floor covering had been replaced, a boat could be pushed around either on dollies or ceiling rails that supported the hoists. These lingering memories of Duke Boats are a key part of the character of the building.

Despite the passion for wooden boats, Duke Boats Ltd. has been transformed, bit by bit, into separate spaces that offer retail, dining and Hatchets Rowing Centre. Now, the Duke building is preserved as a structure but serves a vastly different role in the community.

“I feel like Duke’s was a huge opportunity that came into our lives,” shares McCarthy. “We were already looking for a place to call home, a place to build boats. We live in Port Carling already. We can walk to work now and we want to raise our family here.”

Looking back after owning the Duke building for 13 years, McCarthy explains how some aspects of their new vision evolved.

“In 2009, Jeremy and I had started a rowing centre and also gotten involved with Butson’s Boat Shop,” shares McCarthy. “These were both in Minett at Wallace Marine. We were leasing space for both of these businesses and wanted to purchase a location so that we were building some equity in real estate.”

On a spring day in 2011, while walking together in Port Carling with their newborn child they found their wandering had taken them to the Duke’s building. Fowler introduced McCarthy to Ed Skinner, owner of Duke’s at the time. In conversation, they talked about the building being for sale. An offer was pending completion.

“We ended up buying one of his old work boats, saying goodbye and continuing on our wanderings,” says McCarthy. “Next stop was the Muskoka Lakes mMuseum. At that point we weren’t thinking of purchasing the building but as we stood reading the history of the Duke’s building in the museum, it started us thinking that it would, in fact, be a great location for both a rowing centre and boatbuilding business and instead of the Duke Boats story ending in tear down and redevelopment, we could keep the building alive.”

When the pending offer Skinner had told them about didn’t firm up, McCarthy and Fowler put their own offer in and purchased the Duke’s building in September of 2011.

“We also purchased the Duke Boats Limited name with the building,” explains McCarthy, “and we were excited to merge Butson’s Boat Shop with Duke Boats and move Hatchets Rowing Centre into the building too.”

What has emerged since their purchase of the building is a blend between the commercial and historical value of the structure and its name.

“We love the building and love the history,” shares McCarthy. “We love having our family right here in town and biking to work every day in the summer to teach people to row. We love contributing to the downtown community in Port Carling and being right on the water. We love hearing about all the different people who have been involved in the history of the building over the years and love supporting the wooden boat community. Really, our 13 years here has been a small portion of the history. I don’t believe it’s an official heritage site but we definitely want to preserve the history of the building.”

Adapting to and with an existing structure like the Duke building clearly offers challenges and opportunities. McCarthy explains that “when we originally purchased the building, we envisioned a great café downstairs where the old store was and we actually opened that up as the Bent Rudder Café. We filled in one of the slips at the far end of the building to be used for Hatchets Rowing Centre. And the rest of the building was kept for operating Duke Boats. But then lots of things started happening.”

A restaurant, retail fashion and a “general store” of products that would leverage the Duke Boats heritage and logo filled in where the slips once were as well as the original store, office and more.

“In 2019, we decided to close down the wooden boatbuilding and restoration part of the business,” explains McCarthy.

While not an easy decision to make with the history of the building, they could now focus on their passion for rowing and pull all the other unique features and services of the building together. The second floor also offers “a beautiful little, short term rental apartment so that guests can have a quiet escape, but still be right in the middle of the action,” shares McCarthy. The businesses operating from the retail spaces recognize the special heritage of the building and try to honour it as they can. Fate may have spoken to Fowler and McCarthy in the way the use of the building space has unfolded.

“We did not envision exactly how things have grown but by partnering with so many different individuals on ideas, we are really happy with how the building is being used today,” explains McCarthy.

A new generation has taken over the building and it seems to feel right. For anyone who remembers the comings and going of wooden boats, the former slips are now the stage for the hustle and bustle of retail stores and restaurants. From the docks of Hatchets Rowing Centre, McCarthy offers coaching in rowing in a variety of boats from 30-foot racing singles to more forgiving training boats. While not the sleek wooden boats the Duke name is famous for, the docks and the building serve a new purpose that honours boatbuilding history.