PANAMA CITY — After months of restoration, the Governor Stone went home to St. Andrews Saturday morning.
Built in Pascagoula, Miss., in 1877, the schooner was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. During its 137-year history, the Governor Stone transported lumber and other freight, was a rum runner and served the Merchant Marines during World War II, according to Kay Cherry, a board member of the nonprofit Friends of Governor Stone.
For the last eight months, the schooner was housed at the Bay County Boatyard receiving extensive repairs and restoration.
The roughly $85,000 worth of restoration was made possible by a $50,000 grant from the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation and work by Friends of the Governor Stone volunteers who raised additional funds and volunteered thousands of hours of labor. Bay County Boat Yard, Eastern Shipbuilding and Kurt Voss of Historic Ships and Boats also provided donations and in-kind services.
The project included repairs to the schooner’s original keel — “the backbone of the boat,” said restoration project manager Bill Hamilton — and restoration of the hull, deck and masts. The sails and rigging also were replaced.
“I’m happy to report that it sails better than it has in many, many years,” Hamilton said.
Whenever possible, the repairs were made with materials that would have been used when the Governor Stone was built, such as cypress, juniper and longleaf pine wood. No detail was left out, down to the 38-star American flag flying from the schooner’s topmast.
“We’ve tried to make her look more like she would’ve looked when she was built in 1877,” Cherry said.
The Governor Stone will lead the Blessing of the Fleet at the Panama City Marina April 5th and will participate in an upcoming Civil War re-enactment, Cherry said. The Friends of the Governor Stone also plan to use the schooner as an educational tool.
“We want to work with children and we want to share this history and teach them how to sail,” Cherry said.
The schooner is usually anchored in its home port of St. Andrews near Uncle Ernie’s.
