Everyone’s favorite dory, Celeste, called a Bristol icon

At anchor in the upper harbor, she greets visitors along the East Bay Bike Path

By DeWolf Fulton
Posted 9/15/18

Among the iconic watercraft in Bristol, only one dory comes to mind, and her name is Celeste. She is said to be everybody’s favorite.

Owned by Elizabeth Robinson of Hope Street, she sits at …

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Everyone’s favorite dory, Celeste, called a Bristol icon

At anchor in the upper harbor, she greets visitors along the East Bay Bike Path

Posted

Among the iconic watercraft in Bristol, only one dory comes to mind, and her name is Celeste. She is said to be everybody’s favorite.

Owned by Elizabeth Robinson of Hope Street, she sits at anchor behind the Robinson residence at the head of Bristol Harbor welcoming those who come into town along the East Bay Bike Path. 

“She’s a Bristol icon,” Ms Robinson said recently. “People take pictures of her all the time. I’ve seen bride and groom pose in front of her, gift cards designed with her image, and a two-by-three-foot photo of her on sale in a photo shop.”

A wood carver from Portsmouth has made Christmas tree ornaments in her image for sale at Paper Packaging and Panache on Hope St. “She’s everywhere!” Ms Robinson said.

The classic, 16-foot dory, black with a caramel interior and some varnish work, sports a fresh coat each season but serves little practical function for Ms. Robinson and her children ... a bit puzzling, since the family loves boating.

Son Teddy, 19, who helps these days with the sanding, paint and varnish, says he has never rowed Celeste — the oars are kept somewhere — but he will climb aboard with a friend to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display overhead.

A student at University of Colorado in Boulder, Teddy knows his boats. He works with Guck, Inc. repairing dinghies and catamarans on Franklin Street, and he teaches sailing in Mercurys at the East Bay Sailing Foundation out of Bristol Yacht Club.

Teddy’s sister Trudy, 22, a URI graduate, has also taught sailing at the yacht club and worked this summer aboard the 72-foot classic schooner Madeline out of Newport. Older brother Henry, 25, also taught sailing. They have all worked over the years to keep Celeste in ship shape, Bristol fashion. They know her popularity well.

“When I launch her each season, I get smiles and nods of approval,” Teddy said. “People say, ‘Thank you so much’... When she’s not put in, they say they miss her.

A local celebrity

Celeste is also a celebrity of sorts at the nearby Beach House waterfront restaurant. One former waitress told Teddy that Celeste was her favorite boat in the harbor and often prompted questions from customers.

Beach House hostess and local resident Shaylyn Mahoney said she recently started work there and sometimes daydreams when looking across the water. “She’s a beautiful boat in a beautiful view,” she said.

Her origin is only partly known. Living at the head of the harbor in 2000, Ms Robinson realized early on that having a boat moored off her property would encourage adventure and seamanship in the family. Then she saw a photo of the dory for sale posted at Goat Island Marina in Newport.

“I fell in love with her right away,” Ms Robinson said. She looked pristine in her coat of black and caramel paint, perched atop two sawhorses in a Bellevue Avenue stable next to Doris Duke’s Rough Point. She bought her for $500 from her owners, who were moving back to the horse riding world in Virginia.

She told her son Henry, who was seven at the time, that he could name her anything he wanted. He didn’t hesitate to name her Celeste, after the wife of his favorite storybook elephant, Babar, in the series by French author Jean de Brunhoff.

She bails, but never sails

Some summers Celeste sported an American flag, but Ms Robinson said rough winds shredded the flag, sometimes blowing it overboard. Care for Celeste consists largely of keeping her bailed out, a task easily done by wading out to her in the shallow water.

After some rainfalls when Celeste is sitting low in the water, Mrs. Robinson has seen her bailed out by passing kayakers. During a recent storm, Celeste’s line broke loose from her anchor, and she drifted ashore where passersby pulled her to dry ground and flipped her up against the sea wall.

Over the years Celeste has enjoyed her own silent stardom. “If I don’t put her in the water, people give me grief,” Ms Robinson said.

“She’s a show boat,” she went on. “We don’t row her. She’s there for people to look at and sigh ...to greet visitors coming down the bike path.”

The Robinson family is content to have Celeste watchers feel she is there for everybody. “Most people don’t even know she’s mine,” Ms Robinson said, encouraging all who pass by to admire and adore her as her owners do.

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