To commemorate Barrington Yacht Club’s centennial anniversary, club historian Jean K. McIntyre has penned a book, “100 years of Yachting on Narragansett Bay.”

The 160-page pictorial shows the club from its inception in 1908 to the present day. Mrs. McIntyre, chairwoman of the centennial committee at BYC. spent the past five years gathering stories, pictures and other information for the nine-chapter hardcover book that will be available by the end of the month.

“It was a labor of love,” Mrs. McIntyre said of writing the book.

A retired physical education teacher, Mrs. McIntyre has been a club member for more than 30 years and is very proud of the history of the 100-year-old institution.

“The club had pictures as well as the Barrington Preservation Society but I was lucky when Alan ‘Buzz’ Halladay said he had photos from the club opening as well as others. His grandfather was an artist and a photographer. It was sheer luck,” she said.

The book begins with a reflection from present Commodore William H. Plunkett. In it he writes that “I reflect back over the past 100 years and note how the club has grown and changed with the times and yet in so many ways, the club remains unchanged by time.”

The club was originally opened in 1908 at the end of Thomas Bell’s wharf in West Barrington at Bullock’s Cove and in 1909, the second clubhouse was built on Mathewson Road, across the Barrington River from where the club sits today. That first location became the Bay Spring Yacht Club.

At the time, annual dues were $5 and liquor and gambling were prohibited. Originally, there were 31 members. Today, membership has reached to 450 families with an annual membership dues at $800.

The first posted house rules included: No bathing, swimming or diving from the club premises. No fishing from the club premises and no gasoline should be kept or stored within the club premises.

Those rules have eased up over the years.

Mr. Plunkett said in his letter that the mission of the club had remained unchanged, ‘for the lovers of salt water and a good time’. That was the original mission of the club and then updated to state: ‘to foster the sport of yachting.’

The new and present clubhouse was built in 1936 at a cost of $9,000 and was designed to resemble New England fishing shacks to blend in with a continuing waterfront. An addition was erected in 1977 as the club continued to grow.

“There is a misconception that the boathouse on Mathewson was the original clubhouse. The boathouse was built in the late 1870s by Alan Mathewson as a shipping pier for his jewelry business,” Mrs. MacIntyre said.

The book includes pictures of many great sailing vessels that have been a part of the Barrington Yacht Club fleet as well as chapters focusing on the Hurricane of 1938, Hurricane Carol and Hurricane Bob.

The final chapter of the book is most recent of the summer of 2008 and the numerous celebrations at the club.

To order a copy of “100 Years of Yachting on Narragansett Bay” call 245-1181. The cost is $70 for members and $85 for non-members.