The earliest settler in Port Maitland is believed to have been Joseph Sollows (1790-1869). while living there he built his first house and raised six children. Where the wharf is now he had built a breakwater to protect his boat, "The Sea Rover". He bought fish and started a general store on the banks below the south wharf. Everyone in Port Maitland with the name Sollows descended from him.

The great fire of 1820 in Beaver River increased the population of Port Maitland considerably. It is said that all the houses within three miles of the village were burned to the ground. Many of the people who lost their businesses and houses moved to Port Maitland to set up again. 

Mink farms were run in Port Maitland between 1940 and 1970 by George and Vernon Sollows, Charles Fox, and Borden Hersey. Borden and Gilbert Hersey had a mink farm between 1959 and 1971 in the spot where the Provincial Beach park is now. 

The second school was held in the Pitticus Temperance Diversion Hall. It was in a field on the southwest corner of the Quaco Road and Main Street. When the next school was built, all grades but primary were transferred to it. The primary grades were taught there until 1902, when they were accommodated in the remodeled fourth school. 

The third school was built on the northwest corner of the Quaco Road and Main Street. There were two rooms, one on the ground floor and one on the top floor. The students now had chairs that were connected to desks. Eventually it was sold and moved and used as a barn. 
 

The fourth school was built in 1880 on the site of the third school. There were two rooms on the ground floor. As the child population increased, more room was needed so another floor was built. One of the upstairs rooms was used for high school. The other room was called the Preparatory Room, and was used for assemblies. During World war 2, the school was closed due to a shortage of teachers.
After the new consolidated school was built in 1958, the schoolhouse was torn down. the land now belongs to George MacAlpine.	Picture contributed by Dot Vallillee  who attended this school from  Feb 1952 til June 1955.

The consolidated school is on the northeast corner of the Old Richmond Road and Main street. There were ten classrooms, a large auditorium, cafeteria, principal's office and a library. It went up to grade 8. 9-12 went to Yarmouth High School. 

In 1978 Maple Grove Education Center was built in Hebron for grades 7, 8 and 9. 

One of the richest supplies of food and income came from the lobster fishery. When steamboats and railways were made, catching and shipping lobster became the most profitable business in the area. In1890, Atwood Ellis and James and George Rogers started the catching of lobsters in Port Maitland. They set traps near shore and hauled them by hand. 

When gas engines came to use the boats could go farther and faster in the exploitation of the lobster grounds. In 1947 number of trap set by local fishermen was nine thousand, so the Department of Fisheries initiated conservation methods. 

In 1841, the sum of one hundred pound sterling was granted to build a breakwater in Port Maitland. With this money the first part of the earlier wharves was built. At various times additions were built on it until it was large enough to accommodate the packet vessel, which made weekly trips from St. John. It was also large enough to accommodate boats from Maine, which came for cord wood. As trade and fishing increased, a lighthouse was built at the end of the wharf in 1897. 

The north wharf was rebuilt in the early 1900's. A longer wharf was started south of these in 1926 and was finished in 1929. This was called the "new" wharf. It was built as a protection for the other wharves. It worked in the summer, but not during rough weather. 

In 1938 the north wharf was extended to join the south wharf, then towards the "new" wharf. A part of the south wharf was removed to provide entrance to the dock. 

In 1940, vicious storms washed away over half of the "new" wharf. Between 1940 and 1949, the rest of it was washed away, and a new breakwater was built next to it in 1949. 

In 1954 the other wharf was surfaced in concrete and the sides were remade with steel sheet piling. This part was removed in 1984. In 1979 Federal Department of Public Works called for the breakwater to be rebuilt. In 1982 extensive repairs were made on the south wharf. 

From Oct. 1983 to 1984 there was a $1.2 million project carried out on the north wharf, reinforcing it and placing an armourstone wall on the seaward side. 

All the stuff in this was found in a book called Historical Trails compiled by High Hopes Senior Citizens Club 1985. 
 

The house now owned by Carole Frost was Built by Josiah Ellis. He also operated a fish firm and a general store. He bought what is now known as the Ellis house property and remodeled it into a fin hotel, which was well known in the 1900's. After he and his wife died the hotel was bought at an auction by E. J. Baker of Yarmouth. It continued to operate until October 24, 1924 when it was destroyed in a fire. 

Other hotels were the Mumford Lodge and the Maitland Inn. In the 1940's Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Sears operated the "Sears Cabins", across Main Street from the Old Richmond Road. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Sollows had tourist cabins across from where the school is now. Mrs. Ivan Thomas later operated them until 1974. 

In the late 1950's the tourism industry experienced a boom, because many tourists were coming to Yarmouth, many asking about deep sea fishing with rod and reel. In June 1958, Cecil Smith and Walter Thomas met the requirements for a masters license to operate their fishing boats as charter vessels. 

Deep sea fishing was popular with tourists, who were able to catch cod, pollock, haddock and tuna. Additional interest in the sport was aroused by the Yarmouth Tourism association in the summer. Each summer they awarded trophies for the largest fish caught, one for a man and one for a woman. In recent years, the rising costs of equipment, gasoline and bait increased the cost of chartering a boat and a decline in the number of tourists seeking this type of diversion.