History of The Boat

Percival Lowell, one of a group of pioneers, landed on the banks of the Parker River, Newbury, Mass. in 1635.  About two years later he moved to a spot ten miles north-west and about six miles from the mouth of the Merrimac River, called Salisbury Point, which was later called Amesbury.  This half mile of river bank is famous for its ship yards, which have played such a prominent part in the history of our country.  Here were built the fastest sailing ships of their day such as the famous POLLY and the Frigate ALLIANCE as well as many others.

The days of these large sailing vessels ultimately went by but in their place came a series of small sailboats, built with the same skill and craftsmanship, handed down from father to son.  Built by the Lowell family, who had been building boats for nine generations, these boats are built to withstand the rough water and heavy winds of New England.

The first Town Class was designed and built in 1932 by The Pert Lowell Company, made up of father and son, Marcus C. Lowell and Percival M. "Pert".  It was adopted as a class boat in 1936 under the Town Class name, and quickly became a popular and active racing class from Maine to Florida.  The Town Class was designed as an affordable boat for the townspeople, thus the name.

In 1947 the boat building business of Pert Lowell, Company moved back to Newbury where the "Townie" was actively built until 1972.  In 1982, the fiftieth year of the Town Class, Pert and his son-in-law, Ralph Johnson, Jr. once again resumed the building of the Town Class on the banks of the Parker River within three hundred yards of the landing site of Percival Lowell in 1635. 

Since its inception more than two thousand "Townies" have been built. This popular lapstrake centerboard sloop remains a great family daysailer and a fun racing boat.  The boat is still built the way classic boats  have been built since the late 1700s.

The first organized racing for the Town Class sloops took place in Nahant in 1939.