A Forlorn Plot of Grass

From a distance, it looked like an artist’s painting on the brick wall of the old Grady Building in Apalachicola, Florida. I first noticed it as my sister drove us down Water Street. My imagined artist had painted . . .

” . . . the hull in broad sweeps of dirty white, / a pilot house, once white, / rust hanging down from its windows / like ancient tears.”

thebayqueenloft.com

When we drew closer, I could see that it was real, a relic of a shrimp boat, built in 1915, the year my mother was born here in Apalachicola. It was minus its angled arms that once supported draperies of fish nets. Faded lettering, Venezellos, ran along one side. My research into its history revealed that this was the name of Greek Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos at the turn of the 20th century.

Demosthenes George Margomenos arrived at Ellis Island in October 1900, with his wife Mary. A skilled craftsman, George built not only his own house but also designed and constructed a fleet of shrimp boats for his seafood business, the Standard Fish and Oyster Company.

Apalachicola Fish & Oyster Company, 1947. Image courtesy of The Florida Memory Project http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/55947

Sadly, a century after George came to America and, in due course, Apalachicola, his Venezellos was ordered demolished into smithereens by a modern self-proclaimed environmentalist.

“It was ugly,” he said.

Gone now is this lovely relic of Apalachicola’s maritime history, along with George’s fishing business. The old boat was not at all an eyesore but a piece of Old Apalach for visitors as well as townspeople to enjoy viewing. Only the picket-fenced grass plot that served as home for the boat remains, a forlorn site for a once storied past.

 

NOTE: This post was written in response to Word Press/one word prompt, “forlorn,” for January 8th, 2018.