Byron Hedblom in His Engagement Photo Byron C. Hedblom
With his first granddaughter As a Young Boy Byron Hedblom with the Mount Washington Byron Hedblom on His 100th Birthday

   Engineer, Shipbuilder, Proud Danish American, Husband, Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather
Early Life
Building a Family
A Special Home
Shipbuilding Career
The "Mount"
Memories
Flash Movie
Contact
Photo Album
Credits
Born on June 12, 1904 in East Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Danish immigrants, Byron C. Hedblom lived the American Dream by any measure.

Major Accomplishments

Nearly 75 Years of Marriage to his beautiful wife Doris E. Hedblom

Three Daughters, Nine Grandchildren and Four Great Grandchildren

Founder of the General Ship & Engine Works of East Boston Massachusetts

Construction of the Streamline Ferries on Lake Champlain, the "City of Burlington"and "The City of Plattsburg"

Conversion in 1937 of 10 WWI freighters to oil tankers (Commissioned by D.K. Ludwig)

Construction of two New York Ferries for General Motors Corp (completed in 1942) including the Ferry "Hudson"

Large Contract from the U.S. Maritime Commission to build six super ocean-going tugboats. These were the V4-M-A1 tugs built for the Navy as part of the WWII effort.

Construction of the excursion vessel Mount Washington II, ("The Mount") which continues to cruise the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee

Ownership and Management of the Winnipesaukee Steamship Company for which two additional tourist vessels were built - the Doris E (named for his wife) and the Sophie C (named for his mother).

His extraordinary life spanned nearly 104 years, and he enjoyed it to the fullest until the very end.

As his eldest daughter put it on the day of his passing (May 3, 2008), "He had a great sail!"

Byron Hedblom received his primary education in Woburn, Massachusetts and went to high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

After completing studies at Northeastern University in Boston, he worked as a machinist at a number of Boston area shipyards before founding General Ship & Engine Works in East Boston. Starting with a machine shop powered by an old tractor, he grew the shipyard into a thriving business which was contracted to build and repair ships for both civilian and military use.

Most notably, General Ship built six Super Ocean-Going Tug Boats for the war effort.

Byron also built the excursion vessel Mount Washington, which still proudly plies the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, NH to this day.

He owned and operated “The Mount” from 1941 to 1972. In 1982, Byron was called out of retirement to help oversee the lengthening of the vessel, a major engineering accomplishment.

He also built and owned the Motor Vessels Sophie C. and Doris E., both still offering passenger service on Lake Winnipesaukee.