What is Harbor?

It’s the most common question we get and the one we’ve had the hardest time answering. It should be simple, for sure, why you named your business what you did. The fact that the question often comes while we’re on bar or giving a pitch of some kind forces the issue that the answer should be succinct or simple. And I guess it is simple if you know me and Caitlin, but it’s more than just our name. It’s our experience, our vision, our mission all rolled into one short, beautifully complicated word. 

Caitlin and I are both from port towns. We met in one, too, while I was serving in the Navy. My favorite song of all time is about a girl in a harbor town. In fact, if you catch us in a rush, those are probably the answers you’ll get about the name. Harbor, as a noun or adjective, was always in reach for us just because of who we are and where we’ve been. The “harbor” we chose for our name, though, is a verb.

Harbor, to us, is to shelter. It’s to keep safe and provide respite. Coffee shops and cafes are special places for individuals and communities. Coffee shops are where we start our days, meet and share with our friends, nourish ourselves, and take a break from the world outside. People use coffee shops to focus, to make plans, to catch up with one another. The comparisons between these spaces and harbors are obvious and plenty. We arrive with heavy burdens in search of a place to rest at the end of a tough journey or as we prepare to begin a new one. Harbor felt like the perfect name to describe the place we wanted to build.

The final, most personal, impetus for choosing the name comes from a Broadway musical, Hadestown, by Anais Mitchell. Caitlin and I share a longtime love of theatre. Caitlin is a professional actor and performer, while I gave my final bows at a community theater in high school. Hadestown is one of our favorite new musicals–it debuted just as we started dating. Hadestown depicts the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. As Summer fades, Eurydice faces the harsh realities of the oncoming Winter. 

“While my lover sings his song,

Everything I’ve saved is gone.

Nothing left upon the shelf

Fire ain’t gonna light itself

Now, I see 

All the pretty songs he sings

Ain’t gonna harbor me

From the wind, the wind, the wind.”

The myth and musical are tragedies. They illustrate the heartbreaking realities we face that challenge and break our promises and our relationships. Those relationships survive on understanding, trust, and mutual support. So, too, do our communities. With our business, we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to hear the refrain “harbor me”... to meet people as they are, to be a respite from the challenges they face outside, and help them to gain resilience as they return to unpredictable and unforgiving seas.

While we have no way of knowing what’s to come for us or those around us, we want to lift up our community and inspire and support the people that we are lucky enough to meet along the way. 

“Let the world we dream about

Be the one we live in now”