Story of state's ports adds to history

"Waterways to the World: The Story of the North Carolina State Ports Authority," by Walter R. Turner. North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation and North Carolina State Ports Authority Board of Directors and Foundation, 2009. 100 pp. $15.

By Michael Hill

For the Salisbury Post

Visitors to the North Carolina coast know well the landmarks associated with the state's ports system.

When you cross the bridge leading into Beaufort, you catch a glimpse of the cranes at the Morehead City port. When you dine in one of the waterfront restaurants in Wilmington, you command a closeup view of passing container ships headed in or out of the Port City.

While Tar Heels cannot boast of massive deep water ports such as our neighbors to the north and south have at Norfolk and Charleston, this state does its share of port business at the two facilities.

It is the ports story that Walter R. Turner, staff historian at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, tells in his new 100-page book, "Waterways to the World."

Those who know Walter (it is my privilege to be his colleague and to have read the book in manuscript) know that he is the perfect person to bring this story to the page. Previously the author of "Paving Tobacco Road, a history of the North Carolina Department of Transportation," Walter brings to every task an enthusiasm that translates to the page. The Transportation Museum is lucky to have him hard at work documenting the history of everything from Hackney wagons to Piedmont jets.

The story of the ports at Morehead City and Wilmington is entirely a post-World War II tale but the author wisely provides a concise backstory. Development of trade in the budding colony was hampered by geography. Despite the presence of the Outer Banks and the lack of a natural harbor, the colony developed five official ports of entry at Brunswick, Beaufort, Bath, Edenton and Currituck.

Naval stores and cotton were long the staples shipped from the ports, particularly those at Brunswick and later Wilmington.

The transformation of the system, as with much of the rest of the infrastructure of North Carolina, came with World War II. Wilmington gained a shipbuilding company, one that launched 243 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1946.

In 1945, the legislature, in a bid to maximize the use of the properties, created the State Ports Authority. Hard-nosed politics and the support of leaders like Gov. Kerr Scott made the ports authority what it is today. In the 1960s, the ports were hampered by strikes but boosted by the new containerization technology, an innovation of Malcolm McLean, Winston-Salem trucking magnate.

About half of the book is dedicated to describing the present-day operation of the ports authority. Crisply written, fully documented and complemented by archival and contemporary photographs, the book brings to readers this tale of an often-overlooked aspect of the North Carolina economy.

Michael Hill, research supervisor for the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, is co-editor of the revised edition of the North Carolina Gazetteer (2010).