Along the wide waters of eastern North Carolina, the people of many scattered villages separated by creeks, marshes, and rivers depend on shallow-water boats, both for their livelihoods as fishermen and to maintain connections with one another and with the rest of the world. As Lawrence S. Earley discovered, each workboat has stories to tell, of boatbuilders and fishermen, and of family members and past events associated with these boats. The rich history of these hand-built wooden fishing boats, the people who work them, and the communities they serve lies at the heart of Earley’s evocative new book of essays, interviews, and photographs.
In conversations with the region’s fishermen and boatbuilders, the author 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.