Folks from all over the Northern Neck are expected Saturday at the Reedville Fishermen's Museum for a 100th birthday celebration of the museum's historic skipjack, Claud W. Somers.
There will be maritime music, children's games, a birthday cake and the opening of a new exhibit on skipjacks–the sail-powered, shallow-draft vessels that once filled the Chesapeake Bay with crews dredging oysters.
Another new attraction at the Northumberland County museum is even more directly connected to Reedville and the menhaden fishing industry that has employed thousands over the years, in fleets and factories that once dotted nearly every creek.
It's a table-sized scale model of the menhaden boat the B.H.B. Hubbard Jr. Of 11 such boats sent to France to serve as minesweepers in World War II, the Hubbard alone made it back.
Read the complete story from The Free Lance-Star.