The Graveyard Shift: A Study Of A Boat Graveyard In The Wetlands of Pensacola

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

After their invention during the twentieth century, fiberglass boats grew in popularity due to their quick and long-lasting construction method. Through time, these vessels have littered coastlines after natural disasters, leaving them derelict for years, resulting in boat graveyards. While these graveyards impede the environment and boat traffic, they also represent past community activity. The significance of these forgotten boats demonstrates itself through local heritage, policy regulation, and transformation of the cultural landscape. Boat graveyards impact many locations, including the Florida Panhandle, as it regularly suffers from hurricanes and tropical storms. This research focuses on data collection and site interpretation of abandoned modern watercraft past their prime and soon to be part of the historical record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow