Charlesgate Yacht Club

Now and Then

On October 10^th, 1946, ten members of various local yacht clubs got together to form a corporation under the name of Charlesgate Yacht Club, Inc. (CYC) in the state of Massachusetts. They then applied for a Massachusetts charter under the nonprofit chapter 180 of the General Laws of Massachusetts. The charter was received on January 8, 1947 and an election of officers took place at the home of our first Commodore, Ted Shields.

Commodore - Ted Shields
Vice-Commodore - Mike McDonald
Rear-Commodore - Clarence Huggan
Secretary - Tony Cabral
Treasurer - William Goodman
Fleet Captain - Harvey S. Miller

CYC was originally constructed by fabricating an 8’x10' float just upstream of the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge across Memorial Drive from The Sancta Maria Hospital, (which later on moved to Concord Avenue Cambridge). Our all-wooden boats were tied to makeshift moorings that each of us dropped about 100 yards from shore. We had small wooden rickety rowboats to get from the raft to our boats, with permission of the Army Corp. of Engineers who then controlled the river.

Nearly 58 years later, Charlesgate boasts over 200 members and is at capacity with 70 boats. Through meetings and social events, work parties and major construction  ~ just as it was in the beginning, it is due to the camaraderie of individual members working as teams that have kept the club "afloat" all these years.