For more than eight decades, the Tukey name was woven into the economic life of Belgrade, shaped by the rhythms of the forest, the lakes and the steady work of a family-run mill.
The business began in the 1930s with Hugh Carlton Tukey, a young Belgrade resident who first worked at Leslie Damren’s small water-powered sawmill in North Belgrade. In 1935, Hugh purchased the operation, moved it to Log Haven Camps, and began milling lumber with his brother Earl. In those early years, logs were hauled across frozen Salmon Lake in winter, and local builders relied on the Tukeys for dependable boards at prices that now feel like a different era.
A fire destroyed the mill in 1937, but Hugh rebuilt. By the mid-1940s he had established a larger operation on a 100-acre site along Route 8 in North Belgrade, transitioning from a small custom mill into a regional wholesale lumber supplier serving central Maine.
Growth continued through the 1950s and early 1960s until another fire in 1964 forced a pause. While Hugh temporarily worked elsewhere producing cedar products, his five sons—Bill, Ken, Leroy, Dan and Peter Tukey—prepared to relaunch the family enterprise. In 1971 they purchased the business and formally created Tukey Brothers Lumber, Inc.
What followed was the transformation of a local sawmill into a modern long-log operation capable of producing studs, boards and dimensional lumber at scale. By 1973, the mill employed more than twenty people and had become one of Belgrade’s most significant employers, supporting local families and the broader building trades.
Resilience remained central to the company’s identity. When fire again destroyed the mill in 1988, the Tukeys rebuilt within months—constructing a larger, purpose-built facility from their own lumber along Route 8.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, Tukey Brothers diversified its offerings to include hardwood boards, hemlock landscape timbers, pine log-home stock and finger-joint materials. Contractors, landscapers and woodworkers across Maine came to associate the Tukey name with quality, consistency, and local craftsmanship.
In October 2020, after more than eighty years of family ownership, the Tukeys sold the North Belgrade mill to Hammond Lumber Company, another historic Maine lumber business. Hammond has continued operations at the site, preserving its role as a working mill within the region.
The history of Tukey Brothers Lumber reflects Belgrade’s long relationship with its forests and lakes—an enduring story of family enterprise, hard work, and adaptation in a changing economy.