By the late 1800s, local fishermen were pulling huge catches of sardines from the sea, and processing and preserving the fish became an important industry in the town. Dave and Mabry Greenlaw moved from Eastport and established a smokehouse on the site of Carter's Wharf, then expanded their operation over the next fifteen years until they had built three smokehouses, each identified by a characteristically elevated ridgepole designed to allow ventilation and permit smoke to escape. In 1924, the Allen Art School, calling itself Boothbay Studios, began occupying space in a former ship's chandlery on the grounds, with the Tar Pot restaurant in the foreground structure on the left serving as the place where the art students ate and the structure on the right housing classes.