Core Sound Stop 4: Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild
For generations, one of the most important natural resources in eastern North Carolina was the abundance of migratory (as well as non-migratory) waterfowl that frequented the area. Flocks of hundreds of thousands of birds – ducks, geese, swans, and many, many other species – would shelter in the coastal marshes and pocosins, and along the sounds. While the population has decreased significantly over the last century, migratory birds still come to eastern North Carolina in great abundance, making the region one of great attraction to hunters and birdwatchers.
During the off-season, men who worked the water as their primary trade still had a great deal to do – repairing nets, making cork floats, working on their boats, and, of course, hunting. They hunted waterfowl not only for their meat, but, particularly in the late nineteenth century, to supply feathers to the voracious market for ladies’ hats. Down East men also provided their services as hunting guides, showing wealthy visitors where to find good bird hunting areas, and supplying them with duck blinds, birddogs, dinner pails, and other necessities. 
The hunting tradition that has proved most enduring, perhaps, and most emblematic of the Down East way of life, is decoy carving. Nature author T. Edward Nickens writes,
"All skills necessary to wrest a living from the marshes, sound, and sea were brought to bear through decoy carving, waterfowl hunting, and guiding. The boatwright’s deft touch with a drawknife. The netter’s skill with line and knot. The sailor’s love of canvas. The fishermen’s intimate understanding of wind and tide. Who knows how many thousands of decoys were carved in a Core Sound work shed? To those old-timers, each wooden bird was little more than a tool. But today, we see these works of folk art as a prism, through which we can view a life lived close to the land and sea."
The Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild was founded over a pot of stewed clams by a group of friends and carvers, here on Harkers Island in 1987. The founders envisioned an organization through which carvers could learn from each other and teach new carvers, while inspiring public interest in, and preserving for future generations, the art of decoy making. They also initiated a festival to honor carvers and give them an opportunity to sell their work. The Core Sound Decoy Festival, now in its twentieth year, draws hundreds of people annually to this community of fewer than two thousand full-time residents.The 2007 festival will be held on December 1st and 2nd.
The Carvers Guild offers demonstrations, classes for children, meetings, and competitions, and has a museum shop that is well worth a visit too. The Guild is open most days, but it is a good idea to call first. For information about the Guild and the Decoy Festival, visit the Guild's website, or call (252) 838-8818.
Click here to proceed.
Photo credits: North Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipients Julian Hamilton and Homer Fulcher, carving decoys; photo by Cedric N. Chatterley. Babe Ruth (far left) hunting with men from Carteret County; photo from the collection of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum. Decoy by Julian Hamilton; photo by Cedric N. Chatterley. Hunting dog Down East. Julian Hamilton holding a swan decoy that he made; photo by Cedric N. Chatterley.