Noah Hall remembers the September fire that ripped through Port Clyde in vivid detail.

A captain with the Monhegan Boat Line, he had already put in a “very long day,” getting up around 4 a.m. But just before midnight, he heard about the fire.

“The whole sky coming down the peninsula was orange,” he said. “And the only thing you could really feel was dread. Just awful, awful dread.”

The Sept. 27 fire destroyed the general store, the Dip Net Restaurant and Linda Bean’s Maine Wyeth Art Gallery. No cause was ever determined, according to Maine State Police.

The nearby Monhegan Boat Line office sustained significant damage to its upper floor and has since installed new roof trusses and windows. The whole building had to be re-shingled, Hall said.

Yet the boat line, which provides year-round service to Monhegan Island, only missed one run because of the fire.

Nearly eight months later, a metal fence surrounds the empty space where the large green general store once stood and served as a regular stop for tourists looking for snacks and souvenirs before a trip to the island.

Those traveling this summer season will find a small assortment of food and drinks in the boat line ticket office.

“The general store has started moving in,” Hall said. “They are going to be a part of this now because they don’t have a place to set up.”

Town Manager Rick Erb said he believes there are plans to rebuild the store, but it would require local Planning Board review. A general store employee at the site earlier this week said she was not authorized to speak about the situation.

The absence of the store and restaurant left both a visible and emotional scar on Port Clyde.

“Certainly, it was an immense shock and a feeling of loss to the community,” Erb said. “I think they received a lot of encouragement to rebuild.”

In the days following the fire, Linda Bean, granddaughter to LL Bean and owner of the general store, wrote on Facebook that she and her staff “feel strongly motivated to rebuild a replacement that is as welcome in our community as before this unexpected intervention.”

Bean died March 23 at age 82.

For Hall, the September fire and two major January coastal storms have combined to make for a difficult run up to the busy summer tourist season.

Nevertheless, he’s ready for whatever is to come.

“Keep on keeping on,” Hall said. “We always have. We always will.”