Description
Along the wide waters of eastern North Carolina, the people of many scattered villages separated by creeks, marshes, and rivers rely on shallow-water boats, both for their livelihoods as fishermen and to deal with connections with one any other and with the remainder of the world. As Lawrence S. Earley found out, every workboat has stories to tell, of boatbuilders and fishermen, and of members of the family and past events associated with these boats. The wealthy history of these hand-built wooden fishing boats, the people who work them, and the communities they serve lies on the heart of Earley’s evocative new book of essays, interviews, and photographs.
In conversations with the region’s fishermen and boatbuilders, the writer finds webs of decades-old social history and realizes that workboats are critical in maintaining a community’s memories and its very sense of identity. Including nearly 100 of Earley’s own striking duotones, this richly illustrated book brings to life the world of a fishing culture threatened by local and global forces.