Jun 15, 2016 · The design originated with boat builder George Washington Creef, Sr. who crafted the vessel in his boat building shed on Roanoke Island in the years following the Civil War. The shad boat was used to retrieve fish from pound nets and was particularly suited for navigating the shallow sounds and weathering unpredictable wind shifts.

Creef shaped his boat hull from the root ball of Atlantic white cedar, also known as juniper, trees that grew along the shoreline of the pocosin wetland region of southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. The boat type is named after the shad which was the type of fish caught from the boats. The Ella View was built in 1883 by George ...

Aug 15, 2022 · One of the most iconic boats in North Carolina’s history, a boat credited to playing a major role in rebuilding the economy for many southerners after the Civil War is the Shad boat. Watermen referred to the Shad boat as the “smart” boat.

Mar 11, 2025 · Roanoke Island Maritime Museum opened in Manteo in 1998. The museum is located in the George Washington Creef Boathouse nestled along side the downtown waterfront. The Boathouse is named after George Washington Creef, a local builder who developed the Shad boat in the 1870’s.

Aug 20, 2009 · According to Lawrence E. Babits’ entry on shad boats in the Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Creef “combined traditional split-log techniques with conventional plank-on-frame construction” to produce a safe, shallow boat in the period after the …

Apr 27, 2020 · Today I’m excited to start a special series called “The Story of Shad Boats.” Over a dozen posts, I’ll be exploring the origins, construction and history of those legendary traditional workboats that graced the waters of the North Carolina …

Shad boats were first built in the 1870s by George Washington Creef, who combined traditional split-log techniques with conventional plank-on-frame construction. The original Creef design was extremely successful and in high demand by coastal fishermen.

6 days ago · The North Carolina shad boat i s an iconic part of the Carolina tidewaters. George Washington Creef developed the design in the 1870s, when the shad fishery was going strong — having recovered after a five-year pause during the Civil War. In 1987, the North Carolina General A ssembly declared it the O ff icial State H istoric B oat.

May 3, 2020 · Two of them, Phoebe Ann Creef and her 3-year-old son Grady, actually died in a shad boat. In the spring of 1903, a sudden gale or perhaps a tornado overturned the boat while they were returning from a visit with relatives. Two of …

Shad boats are the official state boats of North Carolina. They were first created around Roanoke Island after the Civil War in the 1870s by George Washington Creef. Early shad boats had round bottoms with curved frames and a high, square stern to hold nets.