Anchored in memory: New marina named for local sailing legacy

Warren G. Hathaway was a water rat — and proud of it.

That’s how longtime friend and fellow sailor Arthur Burke described the late Dartmouth resident Friday, June 6, as the town officially dedicated its newly reconstructed marina in Hathaway’s honor. 

To the crowd gathered at Apponagansett Point, Burke explained the name: a sailor so bonded to the sea that he saw it as a metaphor for life itself and whether calm or snarly, Hathaway loved it all and made it a part of his legacy.

Now, his name will live on at the water’s edge.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Arthur F. Dias Town Landing marked the official unveiling of the Warren G. Hathaway Marina, a project years in the making. Hosted by the town of Dartmouth and its Waterways Commission, the event drew friends, family, local officials and residents to the Apponagansett Point Recreation Area for reflection and celebration.

“This dedication is more than the naming of a marina,” said Select Board Chair Heidi Silva Brooks. “It’s a tribute to a legacy — a legacy built on integrity, passion and unwavering commitment to Dartmouth and its people.”

After selling his newspaper company, Hathaway Publishing, in 1998, Hathaway poured his energy into Dartmouth’s sailing scene. A longtime member and Commodore of the New Bedford Yacht Club, he also helped launch the Dartmouth High School sailing team and coached it for 15 years. He served on the town’s Waterways Commission, helping steer local maritime projects and policy.

“He improved the lives of many youngsters in this town,” said Burke. “Every major maritime event in Warren’s time in this town, he was not just involved with, he was integral to those projects. He was a man who did it all.”

Silva Brooks noted: “Warren believed in the power of the sea to teach, to challenge and to connect. His calm wisdom and generous spirit helped shape not just skillful sailors, but thoughtful young people — ready to navigate life with resilience and purpose.”

The marina reconstruction was funded through a $1 million Seaport Economic Council grant and $200,000 in Community Preservation Act funds. 

Buddy Baker Smith, chair of the Community Preservation Committee, reflected on the town’s long-standing investment in public spaces.

“Since 2002, more than $9.6 million in CPA funds have been invested into community recreation projects in the town of Dartmouth,” he said. He added that while the committee helped fund the project, the real credit goes to those who oversaw its planning and construction.

Members of Hathway’s family were also in attendance at the ceremony.

“I am humbled as I look around this beautiful new marina and see so many people and friends that I know and that I know loved Warren,” said his wife, Marcia Hathaway.

Their son, Luke, shared how his father first brought his mother to Dartmouth in 1983 to convince her to buy a house across the bay — one that’s still in the family and visible from the newly named marina.

“He spent every moment finding joy on this harbor, in this water, and then also spreading that joy,” Luke said. “The thing that he would be most happy about ... is that it just expands the capacity of the town to bring that same joy to more people and to just make this place even more special.”

Burke, who met Hathaway in the mid-1980s, said his friend was a “man who did it all.”

“He was a husband, a father, a musician, a businessman, a spiritual man and, yes, he was a water rat,” Burke said. 

“His personality and his character enriched our lives daily,” he said, adding he hopes to newly erected sign will inspire others in the community,

The ceremony closed with the Navy Hymn, which Burke described as: “a song about the relationship of man and his God and the ocean.”