In March of 2021, Mollie Jellison and her father Terry Geaghan found themselves in a pickle. Mollie had recently moved back to Maine with her family to start a restaurant with her father; they had a talented front-of-house team, a kitchen staff, and a vision, but suddenly, no location.

“There’s no manual to start a restaurant in Maine. There’s a lot of trial and error,” Mollie said. Somehow, less than two months later with some luck, some elbow grease and a few favors, they opened Long Reach Kitchen and Catering at the Bath Golf Club.

“It took a little while for people to know we were there.” Terry said. Eventually, people understood it wasn’t a private golf club and LRK&C steadily built a following over the summer.

“We helped bring people out to the club that hadn’t been there in a long time. It was a culture shift. This is an actual restaurant where you can get a great meal and a really nice cocktail, no longer just simple burgers and dogs,” Mollie explained.

 
Now with a successful year of service behind them, the team began to look ahead to new opportunities. And that’s when they received a call from Maine Maritime Museum.  
 
Mollie and Terry actually have a long history with the museum. Mollie grew up in Bath and remembers Schooner Fare concerts in the summer, and the museum, in general, being a big part of her childhood. Terry, a former advisory board member, in fact built the diorama of the Percy & Small Shipyard that lives at the entrance of the shipyard, an important tool to help visitors understand at-a-glance what was happening at the shipyard more than 100 years ago. Partnering with Long Reach Kitchen and Catering to bring our guests on-site food service at the Sail Shed, formerly known as the Even Keel Café, will help the museum renew and reinforce our connection to the community; we want to be seen as a resource and a destination for everyone. And with the Sail Shed, the museum can now offer visitors both local and from away a true full-day, on-campus experience.  

 
“When you have children, it’s so much easier to go and have a one-stop experience,” Mollie confirmed. “Where the Sail Shed is oriented, Mom and Dad can enjoy a meal and sit out on the lawn and let the kids go play and relax.” 
 

We also hope the Sail Shed becomes a destination for members to come and enjoy throughout the season. Not only that, we’re exploring many ways to further accommodate our guests; snack boxes to enjoy during one of our concerts in partnership with Chocolate Church Arts Center, a QR code aboard the Merrymeeting to order food in advance, lunch for our campers, and more. 
 
“There isn’t a prettier place on the face of the earth to have a lobster roll than sitting down by the water here,” Terry said, and we couldn’t agree more.