There’s a good that was just published that offers a fascinating look into the boatbuilding industry on the Outer Banks. Tourism is certainly number one, but the boatbuilding centered on Roanoke Island is a very respectable number two industry.
The book, Our Family, Its History, Their Boats, was written by LaVern Davis Parker, who as it turns out, is a historian—she taught history in schools and college—and that attention to confirming everything comes through in the book.
Parker traces her family tree right back to George Washington Creef, Sr, the man largely credited, for good reason, with creating the boatbuilding industry on Roanoke Island. His shad boat design in the 1870s was enabled fishermen to haul more of their catch and sail into shallow waters.
The boat is the state boat of North Carolina.
But Parker’s family did much more than build a remarkable fishing boat for the sounds. The racing boats her father and uncle were building in the 1950s and 60s just about ruled East Coast hydroplane racing during that time.
Her cousin Buddy Davis, is credited with bringing the Carolina Flair sport fishing boat to the world. Parker is careful about saying Buddy invented the design, but he did build a number of high quality boats using the design, and if he didn’t actually invent it, his salesmanship and quality of work is the reason it is now so well known.
There is too much in the book to talk about all of it now. There is a wonderful chapter about Manteo during WWII when the shipyard was building watercraft for the Navy. There are also stories about how the Creef family created a shipbuilding center on the Manteo waterfront before WWII.
Distribution of the book is somewhat still limited, but that should be changing soon.
History, beauty and a great people make the Outer Banks a wonderful place to visit. Stop by for a while and stay in a Brindley Beach Vacations home.