Two years after storms, Castine restaurant readied for new perch

Dennett’s Wharf to be set on new and higher pilings this week

Inches from touchdown: Dennett’s Wharf in Castine. Photo courtesy of Fallow Building Services.

Jan. 6, 2026

By John Boit

CASTINE—Almost two years to the day since massive storms battered a popular Castine restaurant, workers are ready to reset the building on new pilings seven feet higher above the water.

Workers provide a sense of scale to the new granite cribwork that will support the restaurant. Photo courtesy of Fallow Building Services.

The building will likely be settled down onto a new cribwork of granite blocks on Jan. 8 or 9, said Paul Fallow of Fallow Building Services, the Castine-based company serving as the general contractor for the project.

Like many businesses and homes, the restaurant had severe damage from two back-to-back storms on Jan. 10 and 12, 2024. The storm destroyed Dennett’s outdoor seating and flooded its interior with three feet of seawater. The building had to be moved off its original wooden pilings and pulled back 30 feet while the cribbing was set in place.

The restaurant is owned by Kip and Judy Oberting, who bought the building in 2017. For several of those years, they rented the building to a string of four different restaurant operators. It is now run seasonally by family members.

The building will eventually have a new outdoor deck, Kip Oberting told The Rising Tide in October last year, along with a retail food space with sandwiches and baked goods for takeout customers. Oberting has said that, “fingers crossed,” the restaurant will be open for business in late June of 2026.

The building had to be slid 30 feet back from the water while the cribwork was built. Photo courtesy of Fallow Building Services.