The Down East Seniors Club held their May 11 meeting at the Blind Center of North Carolina in Washington. President Ed Hamrick led the meeting. Jim Hackney played for the singing of “God Bless America” and Ed Bolen gave the invocation. Dick Paul and Bo Bowen provided humor.

Bo Bowen introduced Ray Midgette, a member of the Historic Port of Washington Project. Midgette told how the project is working to document and display the importance of Washington as a port and boatbuilding area. Before the Civil War, Washington was the largest boatbuilding area in North Carolina. The fact that there was a customs house here for collection of customs fees on shipboard cargo indicates that Washington was a busy port. The port served ships that sailed to and from South America, the West Indies and north as far as Boston. The project museum located on South Market Street displays a 10-foot-long mural depicting the Washington waterfront as it may have looked around 1900. There is also a diorama of sailing workboats known as “sharpies” and a scale model of a sharpie. The project is soliciting donations of historic artifacts, oral history (especially from older residents of the area), volunteers to man the museum and financial donations. They also plan to build a full-size sharpie about 25 feet long.

Ed Hamrick won the 50/50 drawing.