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Workboats of Core Sound Exhibition: Aug. 31

Aug. 31, 2012 — 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., North Carolina History Center, Duffy Gallery, New Bern

Explore the living traditions of the Core Sound region as Tryon Palace hosts the exhibition, Workboats of Core Sound. The heart of this major exhibition is the collection of Lawrence Earley's evocative photographs of the wooden workboats built in the fishing villages of the Core Sound. For more than two centuries, the people of Core Sound have relied on their abilities to build wooden fishing boats that could navigate the region's shallow waters and exploit its rich fisheries. Rather than plotting designs on paper, Core Sound boatbuilders use memory and experience to guide their hands, and have created along the way one of Down East's most important living folk traditions.

To help illustrate the variety of distinctive boat-building traditions of the Core Sound's different communities, the exhibit will include three full-sized skiffs on loan from the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, including a 16-foot motorized skiff that was owned and worked by Leckler Lewis, a lifelong resident of Stacy, Carteret County; a reproduction of the 1921 sail skiff, the "Annabelle"; and a pole skiff built by Jarrett Bay boat designer Gary Davis. Visitors also will have the opportunity to view the extraordinary models of Core Sound workboats by Jimmy Amspacher, each of which takes more than 1,000 hours to complete. The exhibit, which will include a hands-on representation of different boat hull styles, historic artifacts and images of the area's commercial fishing and boatbuilding industries, and an audio-slide shows of Core Sound fishermen discussing their boats, will be on display in the Duffy Gallery of the North Carolina History Center through March 3, 2013.

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