Less than a year after opening at a prominent Main Street location in Bucksport, Stowaways Town Tavern is moving to Blue Hill.
Owner Rob DeGennaro said he plans to reopen Stowaways on Main Street in Blue Hill around Indigenous Peoples Day.
Stowaways opened in the four-story building at 63 Main Street in Bucksport in October 2025. The building is locally famous as the home of Macleod’s Restaurant, which operated there for 45 years before closing in 2025.
It is unclear exactly why Stowaways is on the move. Interviews with DeGennaro and the building’s owner, George MacLeod, reveal a disputed narrative.
MacLeod said he offered DeGennaro a chance to buy the building, which includes five apartments with water views. Deadlines to close on the sale were set, and moved from April to June to August 15 at DeGennaro’s insistence, MacLeod said, but the deal never went through.
According to MacLeod, the restaurant owner stopped paying rent.
“They were not even in touch,” MacLeod said. “I heard nothing.”
DeGennaro said he agreed to a six-month lease and was working on a loan from the Small Business Administration to purchase the building. He accused his landlord of asking for additional money after his business took off and said he refused to accept his rent checks.
DeGennaro also claims the building itself needed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of improvements. MacLeod, however, said several upgrades were already made to the building, including new windows and electrical upgrades. He said he was required to disclose the building’s condition up front.
What is clear, is that this isn’t the first time DeGennaro has opened a restaurant in an iconic downtown building for a short stint before moving elsewhere. Stowaways Town Tavern is only the restaurateur’s most recent venture.
DeGennaro bought the Whale’s Rib Tavern and Pilgrim’s Inn in Deer Isle Village in the early 2000s and sold it in 2005. Over the next two decades, he went on to open restaurants in Southwest Harbor and Southern Florida.
In Castine in 2021, he opened Otters Waterfront Eatery in the building of the famous restaurant, Dennett’s Wharf. Otters closed the following year.
In 2024, DeGennaro opened Crybabies at the longtime site of the Harbor Café in downtown Stonington, which then closed the next year.
These recent restaurants have similar marketing and art styles. They all featured a large, varied menu with generous “family style” portions at relatively moderate prices.
Now, Stowaways’ new location in Blue Hill is the former home of Sandy’s Cafe, which closed permanently in January of this year after seven years.