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Steamboat sails in miniature

Pair put talents and thousands of hours into unique steamboat model for museum

Date published: 5/21/2009

By Rob Hedelt

IT'S HARD TO SAY which was more pain- staking.

Was it crafting the 8-foot-long, 3-foot-high, sliced-in-half basswood model of the 1900s steamboat Lancaster, complete with paddle wheel, pilot house, open-for-viewing staterooms and hand-carved wooden eagle emblem painted in gold?

Or was it crafting tiny chairs, tables, chandeliers, sinks, beds and even a turn of the century toilet in half-inch scale from basswood, toothpicks, costume jewelry, scavenged fabric and wire from the stopper of a wine bottle.

The folks at the Steamboat Era Museum in Irvington, about 90 miles from Fredericksburg at the tip of the Northern Neck, won't waste time trying to decide.

They're just appreciative of the thousands of hours and the care model-builder Bill Wright and miniaturist Nancy Hubbard Clark put into creating the centerpiece of their new exhibit.

The exhibit centers on this one steamboat as a way of understanding the craft that once shuttled passengers and freight from Fredericksburg to the Chesapeake Bay and beyond.

RENEWING HIS HOBBY

Wright's job was perhaps the most involved. The Irvington resident and former military pilot worked eight to 10 hours a day, six days a week from October until early April bringing the Lancaster to life.

It wasn't the first boat for this model-maker, who once launched a balsa glider with a 7-foot wingspan over a bridge in Washington with just a long rubber band.

After retiring to Irvington in 1980, he revisited the hobby he'd so enjoyed as a child by creating models of classic Chesapeake Bay craft--bugeyes and log canoes, skipjacks and schooners.

Eventually, he lent his services to the Steamboat Era Museum, making several models for an exhibit that opened last year.

"He does such an amazing job that we turned to him again for this exhibit that explores the various parts of the steamboat Lancaster," said museum Director Terri Thaxton.

With the help of exhibit whiz George Frayne, a fixture at the Reedville Fishermen's Museum, Wright got started.

The team began by collecting all the pictures, drawings, blueprints and other information they could.

WHAT: Dedicated to the steamboat era of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries WHEN: Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and Sunday, 1-4 p.m. WHERE: Irvington INFO: steamboateramuse um.org or 804/438-6888

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Date published: 5/21/2009