Messenger - Vol. 1, No. 1, Page 14 Fall 1991 Floating cabins once lined bay's inlets Until the turn of the century, hundreds of people spent their weeknights asleep on the waters between Delaware and New Jersey. In small buildings known as floating cabins, they kept company, waiting for the sun to rise, swapping stories and dreaming of shad and sturgeon, and other important wetlands creatures...like turtles. The cabins were a mainstay for local fishermen until the 1920s, when the automobile put an end to an intriguing regional tradition. Almost a century ago, Natalie Peters says, floating cabins crowded the creeks of New Jersey like cars fill the interstate today. Known alternatively as "cabin boats" and "shad boat-houses," floating cabins gave fishermen a place to sleep and kept them close to the fish they followed. From the upper reaches of Salem County, N.J., to Delaware Bay, the cabins were a second home for an unknown number of generations, who lived off the bounty of local waters. A senior majoring in American studies and English at the University, Peters, 25, is one of 12 undergraduates in the University Honors Program's Humanities Scholars program. She is researching floating cabins for her senior thesis in American studies. After 11 months of research, including more than 20 interviews with people whose families used floating cabins, Peters concludes the cabins were used "as temporary residences for shad fishermen throughout the fishing season." Inhabitants of the floating cabins fished for shad, sturgeon and other wildlife from skiffs they kept near their cabins, she says. The cabins, which were staked in the mouths of creeks leading to the Delaware River, served as transportation to good fishing areas, and as a place to sleep, Peters says. But they fell out of use when the automobile gave fishermen the chance to go home without leaving their work too far behind. Peters says black and white photos belonging to local residents show fishermen standing in front of hundreds of floating cabins. She estimates the pictures were taken around 1920. Today, there are only 12 clearly identifiable floating cabins in Salem County, N.J., and in lower Delaware, all of which are resting on private property, Peters says. Another 12 buildings, which seem to have been greatly modified, may once have been floating cabins. According to Peters, the typical floating cabin was a one-room, rectangular building, with a door at each end. The front of the cabin, distinguished by trim, often included a two-part door, which could be opened at either the top or bottom. A type of house boat, the cabins were probably similar to one type of water craft used around the Mississippi River area but differed in that the cabins were not self-propelled, Peters says. "But the New Jersey or Delaware river floating cabins are unusual in that they were used seasonally, and as seasonal residences to reach the river," she says. "These structures appear to have been built in the community, to meet the specific needs of the Delaware River." According to Peters, the cabins also had at least one set of bunks, which were usually located in a rear corner of the dwelling. The bunks were fastened to two walls and the floor. Wood or coal-burning stoves provided the cabins with warmth and a place to cook. In one cabin, Peters says, she found a removable step at the entrance, which, during conversations with some cabin owners, revealed a covert use of floating cabins. "I thought they were using it during prohibition, which is what I asked them, and they said, 'Yeah, we were doing that, too.' "It wasn't until the folks really got to know me and trust me that they would open up and said, 'We confess, we were doing some smuggling.' I found out later that they were using that open area to smuggle turtles who didn't meet the trapping regulations. They'd leave them in there alive and feed them until they were regulation size, which was, of course, against the law." Peters' study of floating cabins began last fall, when she examined folk architecture in a class with Bernard Herman, associate director of the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering. Class members had to choose a structure or a type of structure to research and document, Peters says. "Many of the students researched one specific house and traced the ownership" she says. "Dr. Herman knew of my interest in folklore and gave me the names of two people who had contacted him about these floating cabins," she says. Herman, who is also a senior policy scientist in the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, says Peters "has recovered a way of life which we were on the verge of losing." In October, he says, Peters will present her research to a joint meeting of the American Folklore Society and the Canadian Folklore Association in Newfoundland. With the help of students in the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering, Peters has diagramed the cabins she's encountered. According to Herman, copies of the drawings will be sent to the Library of Congress, as part of the Historic American Building Survey. Peters says at least three floating cabins are going to be refurbished. The Port Penn Interpretive Center in Delaware, an organization dedicated to the preservation of local cultural heritage and run by the state's Division of Parks and Recreation, has accepted the only cabin known to exist on the Delaware side of Delaware River, according to Charles Salkin, manager of technical services for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Salkin says the cabin, which measures 8 feet by 16 feet, will be renovated to closely resemble its appearance as a floating cabin and eventually will be permanently displayed in Port Penn. In New Jersey, at least two cabins are involved in preservation efforts, Peters says. One has been adopted by a Salem County vocational school, she says. "They have structured a course on maritime cultural heritage around the reconstruction of this cabin, and that's really exciting," Peters says. "They'll be inviting people from the community to come in and talk about the local tradition, and doing exactly what I wanted to do, which was reunite the community with its own cultural heritage." --Stephen Steenkamer, Delaware '92