The Hands the Built the Mid-Atlantic Coast

   —By Tiffany Amber Stockton

If you haven't snagged your FREE e-book copy of Magic of the Swan, my novella retelling of Swan Lake, join the FanTAStic Reader community and receive the book today.

Moving on to more about the people who shaped life along the Delmarva coast. When I think about those people, I usually picture watermen out on the water. But somebody had to build the boats they worked from, and somebody had to carve the decoys that hunters set out on the marsh. Then, I realized those people rarely make it into stories. If they do, there's barely a mention. And that sent me on one of those rabbit hole research deep dives to learn more. This post is the result.

The Boats Built for the Bay

The shallow bays behind Chincoteague and Assateague have constantly shifting channels. A waterman needs a boat that can carry a heavy load of oysters or clams through it. Builders on the Atlantic side of Virginia’s Eastern Shore came up with a V-bottomed skiff for tonging and crabbing. It had flared sides, a wide beam, and a straight, raked bow, and it had a reputation for being both fast and seaworthy. Another local design, the seaside bateau, was about twenty feet long and drew barely a foot of water.

What I love about these boats is that they weren’t designed on paper in some office. They were worked out by trial and error, one builder and one customer at a time, until the shape was right for the water where it went to work.

A lot of that building happened in boatyards, and plenty more happened in backyards. A man with the right tools, a stack of lumber, and a lifetime of watching the water could put together a working boat in the space beside his house.

The Man Who Built His Own House

The craftsman who caught my attention was Ira Hudson, who lived from 1873 to 1949. Like me, he was born in Maryland and grew up in Delaware. Eventually, he settled on Chincoteague and knew my great-grandfather. He and his wife Eva raised nine children there, some of whom were friends with my grandfather. He built his own home, he built boats, and in 1897 he started carving decoys.

I'm even more amazed that Hudson never used a pattern. Every decoy came out of his own eye and hands. No two were quite alike. He carved ducks, geese, and shorebirds, and he used whatever wood he could get, including driftwood and pieces of old ship masts. He gave his birds different poses and shaped the tails in different ways, even using plain iron upholstery tacks for eyes.

Carving was a family business in the Hudson house. The children helped with the sanding, with bushel baskets full of decoy heads waiting for their turn. Three of his children, Norman, Delbert, and Alice, went on to design and sell decoys of their own. Estimates put the number of decoys Ira carved into the tens of thousands. My grandfather had a few of them in his apartment above the barber shop. The photo to the right is the bottom of one of the decoys. It's impressive knowing these decoys were all made by a single man and his family with nothing but time and hand tools.

Today, his decoys are sought after by collectors around the world. He did his job well.

Hudson wasn’t the only one, though. Miles Hancock was born in Delaware in 1887, and his family moved to Chincoteague when he was seven. Hancock was a market gunner, and he had a houseboat he named Tarry Awhile and guided hunters from the city. Whenever Hudson was swamped with orders, Hancock pitched in carving decoys.

Hancock lived to be 87 and Hudson lived to age 76. With both, you could tell what kind of men they were just by looking at how they worked. A lifetime of knowledge lived in people's hands.

Work as Worship

Scripture talks about skilled work as well. In Exodus 31, God singles out a craftsman named Bezalel. He fills him with His Spirit and gives him skill, ability, and knowledge for working in wood and metal. The Bible treats craftsmanship as a gift from God to be used well, and I find that remarkable.

Colossians 3:23 puts it in everyday terms: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord." I don’t think Ira Hudson set out to create art. He was feeding a big family and filling orders. But he gave each bird his full attention, and that’s why people are still looking at his work a century later.

* Is there someone in your family or community who worked with their hands, whether building, creating, fixing, carving, or sewing? What do you remember about their work?

* Do you have something that was handmade by someone you love? Why does it matter to you?

* How do you see the connection between faithful work and worship in your own daily life?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below.

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Come back on the 9th of each month for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has embellished stories since childhood, thanks to a very active imagination and notations of talking entirely too much. Honing those skills led her to careers as an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker, while also working as a professional copywriter. Through her love of words, she encourages others to Get Rooted in truth and live a life of purpose.

Currently, she lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two homeschooled teens, and five cats in southeastern Kentucky. In her 20+ years as a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and has agent representation with Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads. She also rebooted her longtime blog and is expanding her content creation to Instagram and Twitter, maybe even an audio podcast at some point.