ultimately break off. 



"That's why it's not unusual to see a 

 decoy with a head made by one person 

 and body made by another," Snow says. 

 Only the shrewdest collectors can name 

 both carvers by looking at the decoy. 



Snow remembers that his father would 

 carry as many as 400 decoys on a single 

 hunting trip. Boxer Jack Dempsey was 

 among the celebrities guided by the 

 Snows, as were a host of generals, ad- 

 mirals and politicians. 



The waters of Currituck Sound are shal- 

 low, but the lure of its old-time decoys 

 still runs deep in the hearts of those who 

 want to see these relics of the past 

 preserved. 



"They're pretty much a part of our 

 heritage here," says Currituck native 

 Sharon Meade, a member of the Currituck 

 County Wildlife Guild. "People depended 

 on these decoys for their livelihoods. But 

 they never would have guessed that the 

 things they made for fifty cents apiece 

 would be worth so much today." 



Meade takes a duck from the shelves of 

 the old Snowden General Store in Curri- 

 tuck. She points out its weaknesses, its 

 strengths, its primitive artistry. Some of 

 the ducks are hers, others belong to Guild 

 members. One day, she says, all of them 

 will be on permanent display in the 

 much-talked-about Currituck Wildlife 

 Museum. 



"Decoys have come a long way in the 

 last few years," she says. "It was nothing, 

 when I was a child, to see old folks 

 chunking them into the woodstove. I cringe 

 when I think about it now." 



The cringing is justified, she says, when 

 you consider that brand new carved and 

 painted decoys can bring as much as $90. 

 The older ones then, are worth several 

 times that. 



"And a lot of our stuff, our decoys, are 

 being bought up and are leaving this 

 area," says Wilson Snowden, a former 



county commissioner who chairs the Cur- 

 rituck Wildlife Museum's Board of Direc- 

 tors. "We're trying to preserve and save 

 our heritage, and it's getting expensive to 

 do that." 



Snowden says many of the Currituck 

 decoys that end up in private collections 

 are purchased from dealers who operate 

 in areas far from the freshwater shores of 

 Currituck. 



"They're buying North Carolina stuff 

 from other states and bringing it back 

 here. We want to make sure the decoys 

 stay here where they were made in the 

 first place." 



To meet that goal, Snowden's group 

 recently purchased the decoy collection of 

 William Neal Conoley Jr. , executive direc- 

 tor of the North Carolina Aquarium 

 Society. The collection, which is docu- 

 mented in Conoley 's book, Waterfowl 

 Heritage, North Carolina Decoys and 

 Gunning Lore, is valued at about half a 

 million dollars, Snowden says. 



Sharon Meade 



"It's worth that much not only because 

 the decoys are valuable," Snowden says. 

 "But because he's taken the time to docu- 

 ment all his decoys. That makes a 

 difference." 



Another big difference in Conoley 's col- 

 lection is its variety. Nearly all the major 

 North Carolina carvers— and some whose 

 names are lost to history— are represented. 



But half a million dollars? 



"Like Sharon said, it's part of our 

 heritage," Snowden says. "The people 

 here in Currituck County lived off the 

 land. They farmed, fished and timbered. 

 The decoys are a symbol of all that. 



"Besides, it's something not a lot of 

 other areas have. The canvas decoys are a 

 good example of this. They were made for 

 a purpose, and each one is unique. Each 

 one is a piece of folk art." 



"And the whole folk art thing is what's 

 made them more valuable," says Conoley. 

 "Folk art can be defined as something 

 that is made for a utilitarian purpose, but 

 also exhibits a particular style and grace, 

 a special skill and workmanship not found 

 in other ordinary objects." 



Conoley says the top six Tar Heel decoy 

 carvers— Alvirah Wright, Ned Burgess, 

 John Williams, Mitchell Fulcher and Lem 

 and Lee Dudley— all exhibited that style 

 that makes their decoys works of art. 



"Before they died, these men may have 

 made only 20 decoys or they may have 

 made 200," Conoley says. "But each one 

 they carved shows that style and grace 

 that can only come from that individual. 

 That's what makes North Carolina decoys 

 different from any others in the country." • 



Photo by C.R. Edgerton 



