The Official Newsletter of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center Summer 2005

Alvin Harris’ Workshop Donated to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum

The Museum is very proud to be the “keeper” of Atlantic’s famous decoy carver, teacher and artist, Mr. Alvin Harris’ workshop. Artifacts in this collection include his woodworking tools, his reference library, patterns and wood shop equipment. The Museum thanks Evelyn Clyde Harris Bumpus for realizing how important this collection is to the waterfowling history of Down East. Part of this collection is now on display at the Museum.

Core Sound Sail Skiff to be Raffled ....

The Core Sound Sail Skiff built by Museum volunteers Heber Guthrie and Jimmy Amspacher will go to a lucky ticket holder at Waterfowl Weekend in December. Tickets are on sale now for $100 each, with only 100 tickets being sold. The boat includes this fine hand-planked juniper 20' sailskiff, brand new sails (by Omar of Beaufort) and a trailer. The boat is on display at the CSWM daily.

This vessel holds significant value, not only as a fine example of traditional wooden boat building, but in the fact that it was built on the National Mall during the 2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and took its maiden voyage on the Potomac. We trust the winner of this piece of Museum history will treasure it as a part of the living traditions of Core Sound.

COMMUNITY NIGHTS CONTINUE ....

The Community Night series at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center continues to draw folks from around the county (and sometime beyond) to the monthly covered dish and history “lesson” featuring the Down East communities. The food is always wonderful and the company even better!

Tuesday, August 16 Community Night featuring Promise’ Land; supper at 6, program at 7
Tuesday, Sept. 20 Community Night featuring Salter Path, supper at 6, program at 7
Tuesday, Oct. 18 Community Night featuring Harkers Island, supper at 6, program at 7
Tuesday, Nov. 15 Community Night featuring Portsmouth, supper at 6, program at 7

Small Business Classes for Local Boatbuilders held at CSWM

The CSWM&HC was host for Carteret Community College’s MART Program on Monday evenings during the spring and summer months for a series of small business workshops specifically designed for small boat building operations. This grant provided classes in financial planning, safety requirements, legal issues, insurance and commercial lending. The CSWM would like to thank Betsey DeCampo and others at the College for their commitment to Down East’s traditional occupations.

Thursday - September 1

$100 Ticket / Cash Prizes

For tickets, call 728-1500

Crystal Coast Civic Center. Morehead City

Thank you Tracey ... The CSWM was sad to lose long-time employee Tracey Lewis at the end of April. Tracey had served the Museum as Office Coordinator for more than 10 years, helping bring the Museum from a small operation at the “old place’ through the long road to the “new museum.” She is greatly missed, but has already proven to be a GREAT VOLUNTEER! Congratulations on your new position at Carteret General!

JEAN DALE BOAT SHED — Coming Soon!

At last! Thanks to many partners, volunteers, contributors and the help of several “key” people, work on the roof to cover the Jean Dale will begin in the next few weeks. Once the roof is on, detailed restoration of this wonderful example of Harkers Island boat building will continue. As many of you know, documentation of this vessel has been on-going for several years and has included an oral history project (funded by the NC Arts Council)and consultation with Dr. Paula Johnson, Small Watercraft Curator at the Smithsonian Institution.

This project has brought together many interested supporters of wooden boat building, including artist Bob Dance, whose love for the Jean Dale and other Core Sound sink netters has been an integral part of our documentation process. His painting of the Jean Dale, was reproduced in limited-edition prints and has provided important funding for this project. Mr. Dance remains very committed to this project and will be working with the Museum over the next years to bring important financial support and media attention to this important part of Down East’s history.

If you would like to know more about the Jean Dale, its history, limited-edition prints and how you can help, please check the Museum’s website.

This year’s King Mackerel run proved to be an even greater success than 2004 for the NC Coastal Federation and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center.

The 2005 season sold out many of the nights and the 20th Anniversary t’s and hat’s were a great success! Many thanks to all of you who helped make this a $15,000 net project for CSWM!

What a wonderful experience for everyone ... Our partnership with the Coastal Federation, the Cohorts, the Community Theatre and the great King Mack fans from ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, combined with the wonderful music and important message, makes this project well worth more than the dollars it brings!

Core Sound’s Exhibit Committee Visits NPS’s Harper’s Ferry Interpretive Center

In June, members of the Museum’s Exhibit Development Committee (Dr. Carmine Prioli, Dr. Allyn Powell, Pam Morris and Karen Amspacher) traveled to Harper’s Ferry, W Va with Cape Lookout National Seashore Superintendent Bob Vogel to tour the Park Service’s exhibit development center.

While there, committee members reviewed plans for new exhibits being developed for the NPS Visitor’s Center at Shell Point, Cape Lookout Lighthouse Keeper’s Quarters and Portsmouth Village.

2005 Membership Campaign

Plans for a statewide membership campaign for the Museum are now underway with a new brochure (thanks to the Carteret Giving Foundation) and committees being formed around NC to host neighborhood gatherings to share the Museum’s story and build our membership support base. (If you would like to help, please call the Museum at 252-728.1500.)

For those of you in the Raleigh area who would like to help, the date is October 20th. We need members LIKE YOU who will bring your friends and family to meet Museum board members and learn more about the work we are doing.

We encourage EVERY member to join this effort. We have a wonderful new brochure and direct mailings now being organized to folks we know have connections here in Carteret County. If you have someone you think would be interested, please call or email their name and address, and we will make sure they are included in the mailing. Better yet, we’ll send you the materials and you can invite them personally.

Membership is KEY to all that we do! We depend on membership contributions to pay the bills, provide programs, leverage matching grant dollars and support the work to complete the building.

Membership dues will be increased on Sept 1. With the increased cost of postage and materials, we found it necessary to raise the levels to cover these increased expenses. This is the first increase since the Museum began in 1992, so we hope everyone understands and supports this decision. We welcome all of you to renew your membership before Sept 1 at the old rates!

Our goal for 2005 is to “grow” our membership by 500 new members by Dec. 31. That means a 100% renewal-rate and every member inviting someone else to join. Our current membership of more than 2500 provides almost ½ of our operational support. We can truly say that without YOU, there would be no Core Sound Museum.

So, help us invite others to join the “family” of Core Sound supporters who have share in the pride and satisfaction of knowing that together, day by day, dollar by dollar, we can finish the task!

Reliving the Dream --- Baseball: More Than a Game!

May 21, 2005 was a special day in the history of Carteret County baseball; a day filled with stories that will be told for generations to come, and will be remembered by the people, some two hundred plus, that attended.

The air was filled with the smell of hotdogs and fresh cooked barbecue pig. The atmosphere was one of excitement, spirited and energetic. It felt like we were at a “Morehead - Beaufort” or “Straits/Harkers Island - Atlantic” baseball game.

I arrived some two hours before the program was to begin and the first thing I saw when I walked into the Museum on Harkers Island, standing there in the middle of the community-based Carteret County Baseball Exhibit, was John Hamilton. John, a favorite of the 1953 Atlantic Championship team of the Salt Water League, was demonstrating to Dallas Arthur, Sr., of Bettie, who came along during the 1940s Tidewater League days, how he got three hits at Campbell College, in the same inning, with the bat he was holding.

In attendance were players, fans, family and friends dating back as far as 1910s, in addition to other younger players from the 1930s, 1940, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

The display of baseball memorabilia, the paper documentation that includes game-by-game stories and statistics, and pictures are extensive, and will remain on display through October. Teams represented in the exhibit are the Wade Brothers of Morehead City (both major league players and Ben a MLB scout); the 1940s Tidewater League teams; the 1950s Salt Water League teams; the 1960s East Coast League teams; the 1970s Seashore League teams; and various championship high schools, Pony League and Little League teams.

The Baseball Exhibit includes team uniforms, bats, baseballs, pictures and stories of our County Baseball Legends such as Jack Gardner, Beaufort (College Sports Hall of Fame member and professional baseball player), who played with Beaufort and then went on to play and manage the 1940s Morehead City’s Tidewater team. It was there, that Jack along with left fielder Joe Hill and Footsy Palmer became known as the ‘Murderer’s Row’ of Morehead batting order. Jack still loves the sound of the ‘Crack of the Bat’.

The stories were being told fast and often. AND they were good! Having all of those Legends in one room made many people tear up thinking of their loved ones as stories were being told about them. The following are just a few of the players, family and friends that attended:

Alfred Gaskill – 90 years old; he was the oldest person in attendance. He played on Stacy and Atlantic teams in the 1920 and 1930s. (His uniform that’s on display still fits him).

David Chadwick – 80 years old, was just a youngster, according to Alfred Gaskill. David played with the 1940s Tidewater League team. Lee Hawkins, David teammate who played with Duke in 1929 and played with professional and semi-pro clubs in Durham was remembered. His family was there listening to David tell how Lee, even though not a pitcher, had to pitch against Morehead one game in 1948 when Mo Willis, their regular pitcher, was out and how he threw the old blooper ball and beat them. David and Lee’s teammate Tookie Willis of Harkers Island was represented by his family Fammie Lee, Mariam and Ronnie Willis and his young son.

And Raymond Earl Willis of Morehead City told the story about being the only Bat-Boy ever heard of in Baseball that was thrown out for throwing a baseball at an umpire (coach told him to do it) in a 1940s Tidewater League game played in Morehead.

John Hamilton, Braxton Taylor, Julian Willis and Rodney Willis – Played on the Atlantic 1950s Salt Water League teams. John also played on the 1960s East Coast League Smyrna team. Julius, the brother of Don Willis and Buddy Willis, all great baseball players of the 1950s, then followed by young Myron Wade who followed their footsteps in the 1960s & 70s.

Fred Bartholomew, the 1961-1964 Smyrna High School Basketball and Baseball coach and Pony League coach. He also played with the 1960s East Coast League Smyrna baseball team. Alton Paul of Davis and A.C. Davis of Marshallberg played with the 1960 East Coast League Smyrna team and the Grays of the Eastern League 1974-1977.

Dallas Arthur, Sr. and J.D. O’Neal of the Grays of the Eastern League 1974-1977. Big Dallas and Miss Dorothy helped remind us of that beloved left-hander, Dallas Wayne ... And Rudolph Dowty’s famous call, “Throooooow her harrrrrd Dallas! Yoooou’re betttter than he are.”

Paul Damren, Braxton Piner, Carroll Hill and Joe (Boy) Willis who played for the 1970s Seashore League Eastern Blues was there. And Big Fred Nelson’s family was there, a star with the Eastern Blues that like many of the others left us way too early. Iva, Susie and Brian Pigott were there representing their dad Crawford who played with the Eastern Blues in the 1970s and also played in East Coast League in the 1960s. Rodney Kemp who played for the 1970s Seashore League Carteret Tides was there telling his tall tales.

Charles Hassell, Sr. - daughter, Ginny Poindexter, represented their father who was a force in Beaufort Baseball, including the Tidewater League, from 1907 to 1992. Hugh Salter of Beaufort loved Carteret County Baseball and he was there to relive it one more time on Saturday. Ben and Jake Wade of Morehead were remembered often; their family had come weeks ago to share their story and be part of the exhibit.

Many others like Brother Gaskill who represented his Dad, Snowball Gaskill who played baseball in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s and his brother, Manley, who played on the Blues and the ECHS team, helped bring together some of the most interesting and meaningful artifacts in the display.

Wilson’s family was there too. Wilson Davis, who played and coached in the 1940, 50s, 60s and 70s and died just one year ago, would have been proud to see his family, sisters Jean and Mel and brother David Hughes, along with daughter Sally and son Larry Davis. They cooked the pig, just the way Wilson had taught them for so many years.

There were many fans and other baseball players represented by family and friends too numerous to list as many of the County Baseball players were represented. We ended the day with a tribute to a great baseball man, Wilson Davis and with an old fashion Wilson Davis Pig Pickin’ that was enjoyed by all.

The feedback from people like Hugh Salter of Beaufort said “This was overwhelming, and certainly over due.” Tommy Davis of Beaufort said “To have this much history on exhibit and detailed paper documentation in one place on Carteret County baseball is historic in itself – great job!” Louie Piner of Davis said “I don’t think it could be accomplished any better.” Alton Paul of Davis said “The documentation you have created reads like a novel, well done.”

We especially want to thank Becky Paul and Brother Gaskill for bringing the idea to document baseball to the Museum and for their ideas, research and their hard work. We want to thank Pam Morris for her tireless effort in making this first Baseball Exhibit spectacular. AND we want to thank Karen for her vision, drive and ability to get it done.

Special thanks go out to my friends Rodney kemp and Joel Hancock for doing such a great job speaking and helping us organize and Reliving the Dream of Baseball and helping make it much more than a game.

Rodney Kemp, one of Carteret County’s great story tellers, also loves baseball. He began playing Little League after being drafted by the Morehead Small Frys at eight years old. He played Pony League in early1960s with Morehead Hawks. He played his freshman and junior years at Morehead City High School in the 1960s.

He returned to coached baseball at Morehead High School from 1976 to 1983, and he continues to coach Little League. He was always a great competitor. Rodney and I have been baseball competitors since the 1960s Pony League days and more recent in 1974-1977 in the Seashore League when he played on the highly regarded Coastal Stars and Carteret Tides and I played on the Eastern Blues.

Whenever we competed against each other, I knew he was going to do everything possible to try and beat us, and he knew we would too. But at the end of the day, we always ended as friends, Moreheader and Harkers Islander – win or lose. We felt good representing ourselves, our friends and our communities, that was baseball in Carteret County.

Rodney said “Baseball has always represented to me the purest form of athletic competition. The very nature of the game lends itself to friendships with teammates as well as opponents. The pace of the game allows time for friendly conversation and exchange of pleasantries. The lessons I learned from my coaches as a young person have carried over to my adult life in so many ways; i.e. fairness, neatness, focus, commitment, winning, losing, teamwork, respect and integrity. Playing in the adult leagues in the 1970”s in Carteret County reaffirmed all that I am talking about.

I have lifetime friendships with persons Down East that I treasure as precious jewels and they all come out of playing ball against them. The communities that were represented on the field of competition always brought great pride from the fans and was a means of me learning to appreciate the heritage of the communities to the point that I dedicate part of my life to learning all about it. There are certainly other endeavors that presents these same qualities of which I speak. However, for me, the shout of “play ball” brings back wonderful memories.”

Joel Hancock also loves Baseball. I had the great opportunity to coach Joel Hancock who was the talented catcher on the 1970 East Carteret High School Co-Championship baseball team. Joel went on to be one of the five All-Conference Baseball Players. He won the Mariner Award for lettering in baseball, basketball and football. He also won the “Player of the Year” award presented by the News Times. He won a full Grant to play ball at Elon College.

Joel got started like many of us growing up on Harkers Island. He began to learn how to be a catcher and hit from his mentor and coach, Snowball Gaskill. He then moved on to Pony League with Wilson Davis teaching him the finer points. By the time he got to high school, he was a great all-around athletic and was one of the most ‘technically’ component players around. He was so good that if he had focused on baseball, he could have been a major leaguer.

Someone asked me once what Baseball meant to me, and I thought for a minute and said, "BASEBALL and the mentors associated with the game has been such a great part of my life I wouldn’t know how to describe what I would have accomplished without it."

"BASEBALL helped give my life direction and focus. It helped give me the feeling of self-worth and satisfaction in representing not only myself, but my friends and community. It helped me developed lasting friendships with bonds that were created that felt as strong as if we had been fighting a war for our Country."

"BASEBALL has given me great memories of great hitters like Paul Damren, Straits, while at the same time, giving me goose bumps listening to people tell stories about the swing of the ‘old-timers’ like John Hamilton, Atlantic, of the Salt Water League in 1950s, or Jack Gardner, Beaufort, or Tookie Willis, Harkers Island, of the Tidewater League in the 1940s."

"BASEBALL has given me great memories of the great thrower like Dallas Wayne Arthur, Bettie, while at the same time, giving me goose bumps listening to stories like what Alton Paul told me about the pitching duels at Davis, in his back yard between the great Ben Wade, local boy, winning for Morehead against Bob Porterfield pitching July 4, 1948 for the Davis Shore Tidewater team. "

"BASEBALL has given me great memories of the great throwing arms like Richard Arthur and Jamie Lewis, while at the same time, giving me goose bumps listening to stories being told by the great hitter of the 1940s, Jack Gardner, telling me about the great arm of Alvin Davis, Davis Shore, one of Carteret County best, who could throw a strike across home plate while standing in the woods in right field at Smyrna. "

"BASEBALL has given me a lot of good memories, and the people associated with it has been such a great force in my life, if I could go back I would only want to spend more time with my friends. I couldn’t imagine not having ever heard the beautiful sound of the ‘crack of the bat’ of that line drive, or ever having crossed those white lines… "

We all invite you to join with the Museum, Rodney, Joel and myself and help us tell your baseball story. Thanks you for your help and support in documenting the history of Carteret County Baseball. Thank you for helping us “Reliving the dream---Baseball: More than a Game” and sharing with family and friends for generations to come the stories of baseball in Carteret County.

Joe (Boy) Willis