Douglass Family Named Grand Marshals of Maritime Festival for Quiet Dedication to Work, Family and Community

There are certain traits that seem to be shared by members of the Douglass family of Orient.

They are not attention seekers; they work hard; and they always show up, for each other and for their customers and the community.

Those are the reasons why the family and their business, Douglass Marine, have been chosen as the grand marshals of the 2024 Maritime Festival in Greenport, set for September 21 and 22.

The honor was bestowed upon all five of them in late May, but only four of them will be fulfilling the duties in September. Pat Douglass, the matriarch of the family, died suddenly on August 1 at the age of 71.

Carrying on without her are her husband, Robert, and three adult children: Melanie Douglass-VanEtten, Peter Douglass and Adam Douglass.

Together, they are the owners and operators of Douglass Marine, the Orient-based towing, salvage, repair and mooring operation that serves customers from the Peconic Bay to Block Island Sound, offshore, and in the Long Island Sound.

“We’re a family of workers,” Melanie said during a recent interview while sitting alongside her brothers, talking about being chosen as grand marshals. They smiled and mostly nodded as she spoke, and described herself as the designated “talker” of the group.

“We don’t usually like the spotlight. We’re more about get in, do your job and get out, so it was a shock compared to other names out there. We’ve been in business for years and been in the community for years, but we didn’t expect to be recognized in that way. But we’re so thrilled.”

Despite their surprise, being chosen makes sense. The Douglass family has always dedicated extra time and energy to helping out with the East End Seaport Museum and Marine Foundation, which puts on the festival, and other community organizations and initiatives. Whenever tall ships come in to dock in Greenport, the Douglass family’s knowledge and expertise is relied upon to make sure the ships are safe and secured.

Though their mother, Pat, died before the festival, she was told about the honor and was there for a special ceremony announcing the family as this year’s honorees. Melanie, in describing how her family is “not a family with many words,” spoke about how there was a communication mix-up about the ceremony, and Maritime Festival organizer Tracey Orlando felt bad that she did not have time to grab a bouquet of flowers for Pat. Melanie said it was fine, and instead they purchased a pair of shark sunglasses from a nearby gift shop.

“My mom loved those sunglasses more than any flowers,” Melanie said with a laugh, adding that her mother started wearing them when she went for weekly dialysis treatments. “So it worked out perfectly.”

Douglass Marine was founded in 1975, the year Melanie was born. Creating the company was a dream come true for her father, who she said always loved boats and boating, and had started out as a boat mechanic. While he founded the company, Melanie said her mother, Pat, was always considered “the heart and soul” of Douglass Marine. In an Instagram post on the company website honoring her, she was described as “the person who always answered the call and let you know help was on the way.”

“She was the one answering calls and scheduling things,” Melanie said, which is a mantle Melanie seems to have taken up. “Dad was the visionary of where he wanted to go, and my mom was the heart that brought it all together.”

All three children entered into the family business, and were groomed for success from the start. Peter, two years younger than Melanie, started training at a very young age.

“When Dad would work on boats, people would see this little 4-year-old kid in their way,” Melanie said, as Peter, seated next to her, smiled. “They slowly realized that Peter was handing him the tools. At 4 or 5 years old, he knew what was going on.”

By the time they were 10, Peter and Adam were capable at operating a boat, and were often called up to do so.

“When I was younger than 10, we had a customer’s boat in Mattituck at Strong’s for repairs,” Peter said, explaining how he was handed the keys and what would now be considered more adult responsibilities at a young age. “Dad said, ‘You know your way to Orient, here you go.’”

While Peter works full time for Douglass Marine, Adam, the youngest, splits his time between the family business and a job at Plum Island.

The property the family owns in Orient, where the business is based, has belonged to the Douglass family for several generations, and was farmed by great- and great-great-grandparents of the Douglass siblings many, many years ago. Melanie said she believes the family has been in the area for six generations.

Douglass Marine started off small, offering boat storage and mechanic services. But it has grown over the years and has met needs in the area.

“As we got older and our skill sets grew, we saw a need in the community,” she said. “Commercial community baymen and fishing boats were out for longer seasons, and there weren’t really people to bring them in if they broke down during the season. We were seeing the need for salvage and bigger operations. Then we branched off into being a Tow Boat US tower. And then we were seeing that there was no one out here that could salvage a boat once it sank, so Douglass Marine also has a vessel recovery unit.”

Whether it’s mechanics, storage, towing or salvage, for both commercial and pleasure boats, Douglass Marine has become a vital part of the North Fork community.

They’ve earned a reputation for being the ones to call for certain kinds of jobs, like a tow for a 120-foot yacht, a request that came in from the Sag Harbor harbormaster this summer.

While what they’ve done and offered over the years has changed, the Douglass family philosophy has remained the same.

“This is very much a family business,” Melanie said. “Mom is still watching over us, so it’s very much the five of us. We all have our skill sets, and all work, thank God, very well together. And our parents are what did that. Number one is family, number two is business.”

They’re all busy enough that there isn’t a ton of time left for much else, but the Douglasses said they will enjoy this year’s Maritime Festival, even though it will be bittersweet after the loss of their mother.

“I’ve enjoyed the festival since I was a little kid,” Melanie said. “I love the parade and the closed-down nature of it. As I get older, I’m not one of those locals that hates Greenport, but we have become more of stores and restaurants and bars, so the festival puts the focus on the maritime history that Greenport has, the whaling history and the working boat history. We have this incredible history, and the festival really brings that to life.”