Mattapoisett Inn’s New Porch Is the Long-Awaited Talk of the Town

Change comes slowly in Mattapoisett.

It practically took an act of Congress to get a drive-thru OK'd for the town's Dunkin'.

Yup, the wheels of time turn slowly here at the home of Salty the Seahorse. But that's what residents like about it in the seaside community.

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Luckily, Nils Johnson is a patient man. He's been waiting seven years to replace the porch that adorns his historic Mattapoisett Inn. While the proper name has been the Inn on Shipyard Park for the past 10 years, no self-respecting Mattapoisett townie would ever call it that. It's just "the Inn" to people who grew up here.

America's oldest seaside inn has been in the business of serving up drinks, food and entertainment in Mattapoisett for more than 200 years. However, some neighbors -- "well, two neighbors to be exact" -- were less than enthusiastic after they moved into the neighborhood next to the popular summer spot and found it to be too raucous, Johnson said.

"There are just two people in my sphere that are just unhappy people," the owner of the Inn said. "I wasn't asking for the world, I was asking to rebuild a porch.  There's only been two negative people I've been dealing with for a long time."

Still, the Inn is no stranger to people voicing disapproval. Earlier this year, it got pushback over its outdoor dining setup. 

Most of the quiet town has been following the porch drama for years, and in the meantime, nothing has happened. The old porch on the old seaside Inn has remained. Nothing changed.

Until Monday.

After getting approval earlier this year, the porch was finally demolished this week, and footings for the new porch are already in place. Building is expected to start soon, strategically planned to not interfere with peak season.

This is headline news in the town of Mattapoisett. Residents gathered and snapped pictures and video as the porch came down.  It's not every day you see change like this in the town.

The new porch will be a bit wider and more structurally sound.

Johnson joked that he had to blow the dust off of the plans that have been sitting in town hall since 2015.

"Seems pretty silly, right?" Johnson said.  "The Inn is the Inn. People who love it love it."