by Daniel Comly (BHTNH Staff)

There’s a small but important piece of Black history in Kittery Point, Maine, tucked away on a scenic back road that winds past creeks and salt marshes. If you look carefully as you drive past the small but attractive cape at 167 Brave Boat Harbor Road, you’ll spot two small boulders at the end of the driveway, each painted with the words “Rock Rest”. These stones serve as the unassuming but distinctive marquee announcing the name given to the place by former owners Hazel and Clayton Sinclair when they operated it as a guest house that catered to Black travelers in the era before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Before the Act became law, Black travelers could not be assured that restaurants, gas stations, and hotels would serve them. While discrimination was officially mandated by Jim Crow laws in the South, it’s too often forgotten that similar discrimination existed unofficially in the North.

The Sinclairs first began taking in guests in the 1940s. Over time, their reputation grew, passed along by word of mouth only; Rock Rest did not advertise in the guides prepared for Black travelers, such as the Green Book. Eventually, the Sinclairs added rooms above a garage on the property so that they could provide lodgings for up to 16 guests at a time. After passage of the Civil Rights Act, business began to taper off and the Sinclairs stopped operating Rock Rest in 1970s.

After the Sinclairs passed away (Clayton in 1978 and Hazel in 1995), the property was rented and gradually fell into disrepair. In the early 2000s, when the Sinclairs’ son decided to sell the property, Portsmouth historian and founder of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Valerie Cunningham, got involved. Having worked at Rock Rest during summers in its heyday, Cunningham knew firsthand the site’s significance. She feared that the house would be razed due to the its poor condition and the stories of Rock Rest would be lost. Through her efforts, local preservation groups and other interested parties were able to find a buyer interested in restoring the house to a state close to its original condition. Against steep odds, this site has been preserved as a landmark so that current-day passersby will have a link to the stories of Black travelers in the 1940s through the 1960s.