Ship-hauling machine completes series of city's 300th projects.

Final dedication ceremony featured many involved in winch's discover, restoration.

Michael and Andrea Harrison of Boston look at the interpretive board at the
 display of a 1960s-era ship-hauling machine at Lawson Creek Park Sunday.

The final project of the New Bern 300th celebration was officially dedicated and turned over to the city by Swiss Bear Downtown Development Corp. on Sunday.

A ceremony featuring many of the principal players in the discovery and restoration of a 1960s-era ship-hauling machine were on hand along with a crowd of about 100 people at the now-restored piece at Lawson Creek Park.

The massive winch, with one gear wheel weighing seven or eight tons, was purchased by Barbour Boat Works for work getting large steel hull vessels in and out of the water at its planned Neuse River Facility, on property now owned by Maola Milk.

The project did not come to pass, and the giant machine lay dormant amid weeds and other vegetation for decades until it was discovered in 2007 by 300th volunteers Tom McGraw, the late Dick Lore, Harry Goodman and Wade Tilley.

Susan Moffat-Thomas, Swiss Bear’s executive director, said she enthusiastically embraced the project.

“When I saw it, I knew it had to be acquired for public display,” she said Sunday. She credited Maola Milk with donating the huge winch, the city of New Bern for storing it for several years, then-New Bern resident Mary Ann Harrison with the major funding for the project, and the Williams Service Company for the restoration of the artifact.

“I have absolutely been passionate about this,” said Moffat-Thomas, who earlier pointed out that the city has no major public displays to reflect its rich boat-building and shipping history. “I knew I could never leave Swiss Bear until this project was completed.”

Moffat-Thomas is retiring at the end of the year.

“It is an absolutely magnificent piece of maritime machinery and a reminder of the outstanding historic role our city had as a port and major boat-building center,” she added. “Like all of our projects, it has taken the public and private sector to make them happen. That is what has made this community so very, very special.”

This installation joins a restored Blue Angels F-11 at the park, along with some other 300th projects such as the restoration of the New Bern City Hall clock, now at the North Carolina History Center; an expanded River Walk downtown, with several small parks added; a historic cemetery restoration; and a 29-foot Spider Lily sculpture at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center.

Speakers for the event included McGraw, chairman of the project; New Bern Mayor Dana Outlaw; Harrison; New Bern Parks and Recreation Director Thurman Hardison; New Bern City Manager Mark Stephens; Eileen Tennor of MORTAR& Ink, Graphic Design for the Built World, and urban planner Cy Paumier.

Craven Brass Quintet provided music before and after the event, which featured a number of historic Barbour Boat Works boats.

Harrison provided nearly all the funding for the project, in honor of her late husband, Timothy.

He was a World War II veteran and according to his son, Michael, who came from Boston with his wife, Andrea, Timothy Harrison loved boats and was an active member of the Neuse River Foundation, along with his wife.

“As you have heard, a project like this doesn’t happen as the result of one person,” said Mary Ann Harrison. “(It takes) a lot of people, a lot of effort, a lot of dedication.”

She urged everyone to “contribute in some way in the community, to leave your community, your home better than what you found it. Volunteer. Donate a little bit, donate a lot if you can. Just be an active part of your community.”

Sun Journal, September 29, 2014