Core Sound Stop 5: Harker's Island boatbuilding
The art of building boats -- both full-size and models – is one rooted in hundreds of years of Down East history. Harkers Island has been home to generations of master builders, including 1993 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipient Julian Guthrie, and 2000 Award recipient James Allen Rose.
Rose learned boatbuilding from his father, and from other relatives and neighbors, and he remembers that during his childhood there were more than 300 boat builders in the area. “There was a time when it was all that anyone out here did. There would be a boat in every other yard…” As a child, Rose was the envy of his friends for his skill in carving miniature boats. “Me and other boys spent a lot of time by the shore playing with model skiffs,” he remembers. “When they saw my little skiffs bobbing up and down, they thought they were outstanding. I traded them to friends for marbles, spin-tops, and other things.”
Rose worked for many years as a fisherman and in commercial boathouses, but most of the full-size watercraft that he constructed were built in his own yard. These hand-built boats, some of up to 40 feet, earned him a reputation as a master craftsmen. Over the course of his life, Rose has built more than 80 full-size boats by himself. 
Upon retirement in 1984, Rose decided to return to making model boats. His highly accurate models depict many of the traditional forms found in full-size boats Down East – spritsail skiffs, round-stern fishing boats, mail boats, and many others. Not only are they a demonstration of James Allen Rose’s excellence as a boat builder, but they also tell a beautifully crafted history of the life and work of the people of Core Sound. Several years ago he estimated that he had made and sold nearly three thousand miniatures. “I love every one of them, wherever they are.”
To visit James Allen Rose’s shop or inquire about purchasing one of his model boats, call the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum at (252) 728-1742.
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Photo credits: North Carolina Folk Heritage Award Recipient James Allen Rose in his workshop, Harkers Island. Rose's workshop. Boat under construction at the Harkers Island docks. Model boat by James Allen Rose. All photos by Roger Haile.