Boat building shop ‘Shipwright’ opens in Orient
When Orient newcomer Bobby “Quint” Wright decided to settle on the North Fork to raise his family, he couldn’t understand why he was the only person on his block to own a wooden boat.
While the area is surrounded by water, his neighbors still prefer driving cars as opposed to traveling in wooden boats.
Mr. Wright, whose parents nicknamed him after the iconic shark hunter character after seeing the movie “Jaws” during one of their first dates, said he hopes his new boat building business, Shipwright, changes other people’s outlook on transportation and recreation.
“I’d like to see Orient self-sufficient,” he said in an interview Friday. “Shipbuilding is a part of this town’s history and, sadly, is fading into just a faint memory.”
The shop features custom-made boats built from sustainable wood grown in the Pacific Northwest where he grew up.
One customer stopped by the shop Friday to order a rowboat for his daughter’s birthday as a way to teach her about sustainable living.
“With gas prices in this economy, we can’t afford not to buy a rowboat,” he said.
For more information or to place an order, call 631-323-2580.
Scroll down to see more images of Shipwright.
Happy April Fools’ Day!
Orient Country Store co-owner Miriam Foster is at it again this April Fools’ Day. This time, she decided to turn her store into a shipbuilding business, Shipwright, complete with a wooden boat and tools courtesy of Greenport businesses Wooden Boatworks and Hanff’s Boat Yard.
After taking photos to make a slideshow featuring boat building props, a Suffolk Times reporter then created the fictitious tale of Bobby “Quint” Wright.
“We put this all together last night under the cover of darkness,” said Ms. Foster.
She and her husband, Grayson Murphy, have run the local eatery for the last five years. During that time, the jokesters pulled other pranks.
One year, they put up a “For Sale” sign, which she said caused an uproar in the community.
In 2014, they set out to fool their small community by announcing plans for a tell-all book signing featuring none other than Linton Duell, the store’s former owner.
“I still get calls from people looking to purchase the book, especially around Christmas,” she said. “I hope I don’t get any calls this time around from people asking technical questions because I don’t know anything about shipbuilding.”
Ms. Foster said she’s keeping track of customers’ reactions as they walk past the boat that she placed in the middle of store.
“Some people haven’t noticed,” she said. “That’s when I ask ‘Do you know what today is?’ and then they smile.”
