The Catboat Association has invited LCHS President Dora Atwater Millikin and Director Marjory O’Toole to share the history of Peggotty at the Association’s 53rd Annual Meeting in Mystic, Connecticut this weekend, March 6-8, 2015.

The Catboat Association calls Peggotty “the oldest catboat in captivity” dating it to approximately 1850. Marjory will discuss its original use as a fishing boat and ferry boat in the Sakonnet River, its transformation into Sydney Burleigh’s artist studio in 1906, its journey to the Historical Society in 1962, and the conservation and preservation efforts the Historical Society has undertaken since then.

Most recently LCHS has committed to a $90,000 preservation and conservation project to provide Peggotty with a more supportive boat cradle, a beautiful new display building, and a new more prominent location on the Historical Society grounds.

This summer Peggotty moved into its new building using a system of planks and rollers that would have made the ancient Egyptians proud. This winter it is tucked safely behind its brand new Category 5 Hurricane Screens.

The screens will come down as soon as the winter snows finally melt away, and Master Shipwright Hermann Hinrichsen will continue his careful restoration of Peggotty’s hull.

We are now just $27,000 away from our fundraising goal and welcome gifts of all sizes to help SAVE PEGGOTTY.