Port Haywood

Mr. Keels was a local logger from an old Virginia family. He worked with his two sons. They knew where to find some big yellow pine trees with plenty of heartwood. They'll last...

 

Felling the keel.

 

 

Dangerous work

 

Finding the heart in the yellow pine logs. We cut 6" timbers from the big old pines. They yielded solid yellow pine heartwood for the stem and stern timbers.

 

The heartwood logs came in two basic sizes; hernia and double hernia. This one was a double hernia because of its length. Men who cut logs for a living work their asses off. I often think of them when I hear some bejeweled officeworker complaining about how hard they work for a living. My guess is he never put in a day at the sawmill.

I came to Virginia to work on a sailboat tied up in a sleepy little marina. One night after dark I took a canoe ride up a tidal creek. I found this abandoned house, and soon made a deal to rent it.

This little cove was like Eden.

The property across the cove was owned by Admiral Tyree USN Retired. He donated several cedar trees to the project. The Tyrees became such kind and generous friends. One day the Admiral asked if the old cedars were yielding good enough boards for Dancing Bear. I told him genuine "Admiral Wood" was hard to find. Today those cedars are the bulkheads and line the inside of the cabinsides. Thanks, Ty.

The old dock came with a dead boat, an old lifeboat off a Danish freighter. I cleared the boat and rebuilt the dock as part of the rent.

The hand of fate shows her cards. The owner of the Port Haywood rental property wanted his house back, I was not to live in this idyllic waterfront cottage on a saltwater creek for long.

 

This was moving day. I left Port Haywood, VA and moved to Deltaville with the keel on the truck. It felt like roots began to grow as I read the sign in Deltavelle, "Boatbuilding Capital of the Chesapeake Bay".