With boating season in full swing, a Sakonnet River institution is staying in the family as local realtor Jennifer Hilton Cavanagh and her husband, marine contractor Andrew Cavanagh, have purchased Standish Boat Yard from her uncle, Ken Hilton.

The marina has been in Tiverton since 1958 and was founded by the Standish family, the marina’s namesake, and has been owned by members of the Hilton family since 1969. The building has a long and varied history, having served as the home of the Tiverton Yacht Club following the 1938 hurricane. The harbor has changed around it, but the building remains the same, becoming a staple for water lovers in the Sakonnet area.

Jennifer and Andrew, who officially purchased the marina on June 11, have been on the water their whole lives, with Andrew learning how to sail at Sakonnet Point and Jennifer at the Tiverton Yacht Club.

Jennifer said it is very important to keep her family's legacy going, which means keeping the business small and locally-owned. She recalls how her grandparents and uncle ran the business and wants to continue running it in the same way.

“I grew up here. My dad worked here for a long time before he started his own business, but it's just a special place.”

There have been attempts to buy out the business in the past, but they were unsuccessful.

Jennifer has seen many mom-and-pop marinas across the river being sold due to a lack of successors and wants to make sure that does not happen to the marina. She also said that in many of these corporate buyouts, significant price hikes are known to happen, which was another influence in buying the property. But locally owned is always better, she said.

“You know the owners. You’re not just a number on a spreadsheet, you’re a person.”

Jennifer and Andrew don’t plan to change the business model; however, they do plan to modernize the store from a technology standpoint.