Restoration

March 31, 2002

Great swirls of yellow pine pollen float in every puddle and creek, a sure indicator of spring. The Cherokee crew is fighting off hay fever and working at a feverish pace. “Everything’s popping,” said Blake. “We’re at that stage where everything seem’s to be happening at once.” But some things never change – below Bill Davis is shown board-sanding the hull.

Board Sanding the Hull

Catherine Williams, the interior decorator, has been planning interior color schemes and fabrics.
Kitchen appliances are arriving, including the microwave and stove.

Domestic Business: The Stove, Bryan and Catherine

Tom Kirmeyer still finds himself in tight places, fitting the plumbing for the forward heads. Walls are going up in the forward area, adding to the “bee hive” feel of the work areas. But there is a method to the madness here! Tom Parker is working on shelving and drawers.

Tom in a Tight Spot next to Forward Portside Head, Modelling Starboard Head next to Shelves and Counter

The insides of the vanities have been top-coated. This is the last step in the process, and the priming and sanding was done before the vanities were put together. This is the most time consuming part of painting a piece of furniture like this, due to many corners and tight spaces. Painting the outside is a breeze in comparison – the outsides will be painted with the rest of the room.

A Pretty Vanity

Pictured below is the through-hull and ball valve for the forward drain manifold. Everything in the forward part in the vessel that needs to discharge to the outside will discharge through this manifold. This is located right beside the washer/drier combination.

The Way-Out for Grey Water

Jeff Heyland is preparing to glue mahogany to the transom. This will be sanded and varnished. Then the name will be painted in place, and everyone will be awestruck at the beauty of Cherokee.

Jeff Preparing Transom for the Big M

Gloucester Community Club is already gearing up for its summer barbecue schedule, a tradition that stretches back to 1956, when men sat around a pot-bellied stove at the INS grocery store grouching about Gloucester not getting it’s fair share of county services. Neighbors got together with the help of extension agents and planned the barbecue to raise money for community beautification. They first met people’s homes, then in Bill Pigott’s potato-grading shed, and finally built their own building. Clubmembers cleaned up the roadways, petitioned for better trash disposal, insisted on improved roads with road signs, and even managed to get Gloucester on state maps by 1961. The telephone company declined requests to run service into Gloucester until right-of-way access was provided. Club members not only secured the okay of property owners; they cut the access route themselves with bush axes! By 1962, a public telephone booth was installed next to the Gloucester INS grocery store. Today the chicken barbecues help fund an annual scholarship that the club awards to college-bound Down East residents. Quite a legacy baked into those chickens… Signing off for now, Barbara “Fish Doctor” Blake