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It’s no secret that the Outer Banks is a pinnacle for the everyday mariner. With its extensive coastline and accessibility to open waters, this barrier island has served as a thoroughfare for long before it became a popular tourist destination.

Sailors have traversed the fickle seas surrounding this part of the North Carolina coast for years, relying on dependable means of transportation. Because of this, boat builders have been a crucial part of the coastal economy for decades. Around 1940-1941, 12 businessmen from Manteo were concerned because skilled boat builders were leaving the area to go and work for higher wages and join the war effort elsewhere. World War II (WWII) had begun and brought a dire need for naval ships. As the war intensified, the United States sought out places which could produce watercraft for battle, one of which being North Carolina, with its long history of boat building. There arose an opportunity for these 12 businessmen to bring back an integral industry, and The Manteo Boat Building Company was born.

Robert Bruce Etheridge, director of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, was influential in determining whether it was sensible for a boat building company to form on Roanoke Island. LeVern Davis Parker, author of Manteo during World War II & Manteo Boat Building Company, shared that Etheridge decided the company was a viable project for the businessmen to be involved in. The men all came together, pulling their own resources, and eventually incorporated in February of 1941 before setting out to collect boat building contracts.

Parker’s father, Vernon, and her uncle, Ralph “Buddy” Davis, were two of the 12 investors in the company when it began. Both men were experienced boat builders and although they and were no longer investing by the time the company closed its doors in 1945, they helped in the resurgence of a major industry on the Outer Banks.

The first contract Manteo Boat Building Company secured was for 20 14-ft. training dinghies for the U.S. Naval Academy. Throughout the war effort, the company built 67 boats, ranging from 14-ft to 140-ft. The larger boats were Army air rescue watercraft and Landing Ship Tanks (LST), whereas the smaller boats were primarily used for the Army air force. “Particularly, these boats were used for rescuing pilots that went down off the coast,” the author shared.

Parker felt it important to record the history of boatbuilding on the Outer Banks, not only because her family was involved, but for the generations of families whose ancestors fought to keep the island alive and progressing. This newest publication follows her debut book Our Family, Its History Their Boats: Six Generations of Boat Builders in Dare County, where she traces her family’s boatbuilding history back its roots. This time around, she felt it necessary to capture a part of history that will never be forgotten.

“When I was writing the first book, there was a chapter in it on Manteo Boat Building Company during the war. And while the first book was being printed, my husband was saying, ‘You keep walking around in circles waiting for it to get here, why don’t you settle down and write about something else that you’re interested in.’”

Through her own family’s stories, local interviews and research, Parker has masterfully portrayed life in Manteo back during WWII. Many of those whom she interviewed were pre-teens or teens in the early 1940s, and Parker, a Manteo native and WWII history major, was able to gain both personal testimonies and restore friendships with those whom she grew up knowing. “The most meaningful thing for me was the interviews,” she shared. “I wanted to include as many personal stories about Manteo during WWII as I could, and related to topics that I was interested in.”

Readers can dive into what life looked like in Manteo during WWII through the lens of those who were living it. From beautiful imagery to heartfelt stories and historically accurate information regarding a booming industry, this book was written to appeal to the masses. “Right now, historically and as far as reading is concerned, there’s a love affair with WWII.” Parker noted. “I found the research to be, as a historian, extremely interesting, informative and humbling.”

Books can be purchased either directly through Parker by emailing her at levernp@yahoo.com, or at local bookstores including Downtown Books in Manteo, Buxton Village Books in Buxton, or Island Bookstore in Kitty Hawk. The author will be presenting her latest release at the following: Dare County Library in Manteo at 2:30 p.m. on January 23; Currituck Library in Barco at 11 a.m. on February 27; Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City at noon on April 2.

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