Construction is complete for Friends of Eastern Neck’s 50th Anniversary gift to the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a permanent exhibit shed for a surviving example of a Chesapeake-region gunning skiff adapted for use with a battery gun.
The skiff was discovered on the island in 2009. Pete Lesher, curator of exhibits at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, reports the skiff may have been built in Chincoteague VA circa 1910-20; the circumstances of how and when the skiff wound up at Eastern Neck remain a mystery.
Flat-bottomed and cross-planked, the skiff is 17’ 11” long and 48” wide. The stem and transom are white oak and the sides and bottom are cedar. It is fastened with steel nails.
Eastern Neck Island has always been a major feeding and resting place for wintering waterfowl. Before it became a national wildlife refuge, the island had a rich history of sport and “market” hunting.
The newly completed display shed is located directly behind the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s headquarters lodge on Eastern Neck Island, and the skiff can be viewed from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. A descriptive sign explains the exhibit.
An old four-barreled “market gun” is on display in the Lodge
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