When Emerson Willard built his
first boat, he was a 14-year-old
boy—adventurous, sunburned and
fearless as he navigated the creeks
and cuts of Masonboro Sound.
Since then, Willard, now 89, has crafted dozens of
wooden boats for sailors seeking the thoughtful,
handcrafted lines of a master boat builder.
Willard grew up in town, and like a lot of
Wilmington families in the 1920s and ’30s he spent
the sweltering days of summer on the sound sailing,
fishing and learning the ways of the water.
“When I grew up, there weren’t any boats except
the wooden boats that somebody built. We had a
16-foot sprit-rigged cat boat. It was just a little sailing
skiff,” recounts Willard from his kitchen table where
we poured over albums filled with old black and white
photos.
remember when
Crown Point
Dory by Gretchen Nash
Bryan Humphrey
sails his 18-foot
CP, The Theovia,
in Banks Channel
with daughters
Theodora and Olivia.
Photography by
Allison Breiner Potter.
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