SPENCER ó The North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation announces publication of “Waterways to the World: The Story of the North Carolina State Ports Authority.”
Authored by N.C. Transportation Museum historian Walter R. Turner, this new book details the history and development of the North Carolina State Ports Authority, which opened terminals in Wilmington and Morehead City in 1952.
A book program with the author will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 21) in the Bob Julian Roundhouse at the N.C. Transportation Museum, featuring photographs and a book signing. Book programs are also scheduled Dec. 2 at the History Place in Morehead City and Dec. 3 at Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington.
The book details specific commodities the ports accommodated over the years, including phosphates, rubber, steel and lumber products. In the book’s introduction, former N.C. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., wrote that “the State Ports Authority has provided gateways for such Tar Heel legacy industries as textiles, furniture and tobacco, while maintaining enough flexibility to serve new and high-tech industries.”
Over the years, the North Carolina State Ports Authority constructed berths, warehouses and related buildings, railroad and truck facilities to accommodate the exporting and importing of commodities. Topics discussed include the different ways that the two ports developed, strikes by the International Longshoremen’s Association, and the growth of container technology and its influence on globalization.
Finally, the book covers the new era of leadership beginning in the mid-1990s, which involved updating facilities, deepening the Morehead City harbor and the Cape Fear River and expanding the number of shipping companies serving the ports.
As historian at the North Carolina Transportation Museum for the past decade, Walter R. Turner has become the state’s expert on transportation development. He is the author of “Paving Tobacco Road: A Century of Progress by the North Carolina Department of Transportation” and numerous magazine articles. A fifth-generation North Carolinian, he earned a B.A. degree in history from Methodist College (now Methodist University) in Fayetteville and a master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Waterways to the World: The Story of the North Carolina State Ports Authority” is a 100-page paperback with colorful illustrations. The book can be ordered from the Gift Station, North Carolina Transportation Museum at www.nctrans.org/nctrans_cart/ or at (704) 636-2889, Ext. 238
The N.C. Transportation Museum, located in historic Spencer Shops, the former Southern Railway repair facility, is part of the Division of State Historic Sites, Department of Cultural Resources. The museum is located just five minutes off I-85 at Exit 79 in Spencer, N.C., and about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. Visit www.nctrans.org for more information. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is celebrating the 2009 theme of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For information on the Department of Cultural Resources, call (919) 807-7385 or visit www.ncculture.com.