CAMDEN — At 6 p.m. Sunday, February 28, Cappy’s Chowder House, which for 37 years has occupied the familiar corner of downtown Camden, said goodnight to its last patrons and locked the door. The bittersweet moment was marked by hugs and frowns as the employees gathered inside for a last hurrah as a staff.

As I sat at Cappy’s bar Sunday afternoon with a friend, Donald Monahan, we were enjoying lunch and a beer and trying to figure out which cups and cans would make the best souvenirs. Donald reflected on a town’s resonance.

“When you think of a town, it has a resonance with you,” he began. “When I think of Camden I think of the old Bay View Cinema and how I miss it. Cappy’s has been here 37 years. When I think of this town I will think of this intersection and corner and I think I’ll miss it.”

What I remember about Cappy’s is that for a short time they served breakfast. It was great to get up at 6 a.m. and sit at a full bodied bar having coffee and eggs. It’s a guy thing I guess, but it was a comfortable surrounding. At 6 a.m. it wasn’t s open for business a tavern, it was just a comfortable place to be.

When Camden resonates with me I will probably think of that.

Audry and Paul Muir and Jim and Kris Beirne are from Brooks. They have been coming to Cappy’s since 1984.

“I’m happy for them if that’s what they want to do, but the atmosphere is just so wonderful,” said Audry.

Paul remembered the years as a motorcycle ride.

“ We would come down in the evenings on our motorcycles just to get a bowl of clam chowder and a piece of blueberry pie,” he said.

The couples knew it was the restaurants last last day when they came on Sunday.

Ed Butler sat at the bar nursing a beer abnd reflected on the bar. 

“ I’ve been here since Johanna opened it and I think what a lot of people never realized is the sketchings in the bar are Camden Harbor,” he said. “You’ve got ships, and the islands and Mt. Battie up there.”

No one knows the fate of the bar.

“Johanna had it made for the restaurant,” said Butler. “And I was just thinking when you were taking pictures that hopefully somebody figures that out and gets it and puts it somewhere. I hope somebody buys it and takes it home.”

Amanda Dennison has worked at Cappy’s for 20 years, since 1996.

“I started out in the bakery,” she said. “Johanna gave me my very first real job. I took some waitress shift and a bar-tending course.”

Dennison said she has witnessed a lot of changes at Cappy’s.

“A lot of changes,” she said. “All the years with Johanna and then passing the torch to Matt and David and purchasing the Village Restaurant, there was a lot of changes happening.”

Dennison said that everything happens for a reason.

“Everything about Cappy’s is memorable,” she said. “I worked the Friday night bar shift, so my Friday nights here were amazing. We had a group of people who came in every Friday night and they called themselves the Friday Nighters. They came in for 25 years.”

Dennison lives in Searsmont. I asked her what she would resonate about Cappy’s when she drove through town.

“It’s an end of an era,” she said. “I was 16 when I went to work here,” she said. “I’m 36 now. 20 years have been here. This has always been my home. I’m glad it’s Sea Dog that’s coming back. They have their roots in Camden and they have community here and I’m glad it’s them coming back, but it’s still sad for Cappy’s.”

David Robichaud, co owner and operations manager for Cappy’s Chowder House, said it was just kind of the time.

“Myself, I’m kind of ready to move on to something else,” he said. “The company that’s buying Cappy’s, Shipyard/Sea Dog, has entertained an offer that we decided to explore and we decided that this is the best move for the business to expand. I’m a little disappointed that it’s not going to continue under the Cappy’s name, but Sea Dog is well respected and people are glad they’re coming back to town and I know they’re going to continue the style, the feel and the pub atmosphere.”

Dave thinks he’ll just take some time off for a while.

“As anybody in the restaurant business knows is that once you’re in it, you’re pretty much married to it,” he said. “Hopefully it will give me some time to explore me again. For the summer I’m going to keep my head low and enjoy life a little bit and make some reconnections.”

Robichaud said he thought there were renovations in store for the building.

“I don’t know all the particulars,” he said, “but I do know they’re going to be adding some decks to the back, bigger bars and changing the dining room configurations, joining the building on both floors, so that’s going to all take some time. They have talked about putting an elevator in, so all that is going to take some time.”

The seagull has to go back to the Penobscot Marine Museum. Robichaud was uncertain about which other items of memorabilia will stay. Sea Dog plans to be open by June 15.