- A foggy morning on Edenton Bay -
Time to dust off the dreams. A while back, a long while
back, we decided to build a houseboat. It would have to be unusual, maybe
even peculiar, but comfortable
and sturdy, maybe even nice enough to live on. We drew sketches on backs of cheap-restaurant place mats,
and dreamed of all the backwaters and exotic ports we would visit. Alas, some thirty years of life ensued, in which building a boat did not figure. Our
children grew up, and a logical retirement age approached. Houseboat time?
Why not! Like all major undertakings, this required preparation. For starters, there was the matter of finding
some water to float the thing in. That meant relocating to a pleasant little
coastal town with affordable and
reasonably sheltered waterfront property. The perfect locale would be not
only a pretty place with lovely weather, but be populated by friendly natives, offer lots of
cultural and recreational opportunities, be located reasonably close to 'civilization', and, of
course, have a nearby airport with hangar space for our Mooney. We spent four
years of spare weekends looking
along the East and Gulf coasts, and kept returning to a nice little village
wedged between endless cotton fields and the Great Dismal Swamp. Historic Edenton, North Carolina,
perched on the northwestern shore of the Albemarle Sound, seemed made to
order. We moved into a 30-year-old house overlooking the water, added a
workshop to it, and prepared to build a boat. Then came hell AND high water. Hurricane Isabel, in
September of 2003, put the houseboat project at the end of a long list of
more urgent chores. By the summer of 2004, though, we had dug ourselves
out enough to go buy some
plywood. To follow the rest of that story, click on Boat Inchoate.
Feel free to contact us with questions, good advice,
dire predictions or invitations to dinner.
Rob and Mimi Reiheld
207 Queen Anne Drive
Edenton, NC 27932
Phone: 252-482-0624
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