Jimmy Pierce, long time Havre de Grace resident and storyteller, recalls the rich history of Havre de Grace — from brothels, speakeasies, bookie joints, and canneries to the museums and antique shops. Havre de Grace had swimming beaches and upscale hotels alongside its waterfront condos, from its dump to the waterfront park.
Jimmy is a regular Boat Shop volunteer, offering sage advice on our building and restoration of wooden boats. Jimmy always has a story of local history up his sleeve, and we’ve asked him to share a few of these stories with a wider audience, rather than just us guys in the shop. He asked us to provide him some questions so he could prepare, as his stories are many, and his memories rich and colorful. We provided him four questions to consider…
1) We know you grew up here in Havre de Grace, so can you tell us what the waterfront was like in your early years? What businesses were on the water, what kind of hunting and fishing was there, and what pleasures could be found on or near the waterfront?
2) What specific work did you do with sport and market hunting? (We remember a good story Jimmy once told us about hunting outside the law in some capacity, but since his client was the county sheriff, he wasn’t worried!)
3) What were the types of boats commonly seen on the water? How have these boats (i.e. shad shacks, hunting boats, crabbers, sailboats, racers) changed over the years?
4) How did decoy carving go from a necessity of duck hunting to a form of visual art?
Join us this May and hear Jimmy discuss all these topics!
