Core Sound Waterfowl Museum

Tim Speight

Tim Speight

Active member
Was on vacation with the family last week and had the opportunity to take in the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum on Harkers Island, NC.

Terrific place...great history, a very rare Ward Brothers exhibit on loan from the Ward Foundation for 2012, great examples of working boats from that area of the country, and super nice volunteers (just what I'd expect from Carolina folks).

From their website...comments regarding a sink net fishing boat on display...beautiful flared bow with a gorgeous rounded stern:

Much has been said about the flare bow of Harkers Island boats. Writers and boat builders have come from across the country to marvel at the engineering that its structure exemplifies. They are amazed at how the shape of the bow worked the shallow waters of Core Sound and the way the soft juniper wood would make the angle of the curve. How could a man with only an innate knowledge of the water and a natural talent for working wood develop such a design? The answer is simple; he knew what was needed and he built it. The boat's beauty is the culmination of that understanding

http://coresound.com/

If you're along the Outer Banks this summer, would be worth a side trip to take in this museum.

Tim
 
Actually the museum was quite a bit more than I expected, so I didn't take a camera. I did get my daughter to take a few images with her phone, I'll see if I can get them posted up. The website has some nice images.
 
Glad you got to visit the museum! Some beautiful decoys there and the Harker's Island boats are beautiful as well. My dad's side of the family moved to Beaufort from Portsmouth Island in the early 1900's, and when we visited there last summer my dad was blown away to find newspaper articles in the archives about his high school days. My grandfather and great-grandfather were avid hunters on the Core Banks and my dad has stories about seeing the old decoys in the garage when he was growing up, man I would have loved to get a look at those. My family still has property on the Neuse River and I've always dreamed about going back during duck season and hunting some of the same waters my family did so long ago. Hope you can post some photos!
 
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Man, I love seeing some stuff posted on here that hits close to home. I don't live too far from Harkers Island. I've been to the museum and always try to catch the Decoy Festival that happens every December there. There is quite a serious legacy of waterfowling in this area.

Now as far as the Harkers Island boats go. I love these rigs. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I've had the pleasure of riding around in more than a couple of juniper skiffs and shrimp boats around here. They're the best. I'm in the process of contemplating building one for myself right now. I don't know how long the contemplating part will last but I'm going to do it eventually.

I was in Bath NC awhile back working. I was driving to get some lunch with my partner and passed a garage that had a juniper skeleton sitting inside. We pulled over and walked in there to say hello and have a look. We were greeted by a fellow about 65 years of age that was more than happy to shoot the shit with us for a bit. The boat was about a 30 footer set up for an inboard in the most classic of ways. It had the biggest meanest flarenest bow on it I'd ever seen. We questioned this fellow about what he was up to. My favorite part was when I asked him where he'd gotten his plans from....He laughed...and said, "plans? nobody ever had plans for building one of these boats." "You know what a boat looks like don't you?" "You just figure how big a one you need, and then build the damn thing."

So that's how you build one. And when I build mine that is exactly the way I'm going about it.
 
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