There are several historic ship captains' houses in the District; much of the real estate is waterfront property.

The area's historic significance centers on the shipbuilding company and shipyard, Pennell Brothers, on Middle Bay Cove.

Pennellville is located in the southern portion of Brunswick, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean.

[citation needed] Pennellville is part of the town of Brunswick, Maine; it has no government of its own.

Residents of Pennellville are subject to Brunswick's town's and Maine state's taxation systems.

His second son was Thomas Pennell II (1739–1812), who, about 1768, married Alice Anderson of Freeport, Maine.

Housing development has been relatively sparse, and much of Pennellville remains has wooded areas and open fields.

The ways (the wooden rails a ship was launched down) can still be seen sitting in the bay at Pennellville Point at low tide.

The earliest records show that the Pennell family was building wooden cargo ships around 1768 in the Pennellville shipyard.

Pennell ships carried all sorts of cargoes; among them were timber, deadstock, wine, guano, salt, and fruit.

However, they built many different types of tall ships, more specifically classified as barques, schooners, sloops, and brigs.

[6][7] By the end of the 19th century, metal-hulled steamships had replaced wooden ships as a means of transporting goods.

By the end of the 19th century, it was faster and safer to ship cargoes by railroad from New York City to San Francisco than to sail around Cape Horn.

As James was the last master-builder of the Pennell family, his death was a major blow to the workings of the yard.

The names of the houses are: A notable relative of the Pennell family was Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robert P. T. Coffin (1892–1955).