Bill Holland is helping to keep Biloxi's wooden boatbuilding tradition alive. He was born and grew up in Biloxi's Back Bay, the heart of the city's seafood canning and boat building industries. As a small child he played around the boatyards and built model boats from wood discarded by the boatbuilders. When he was twelve years old he began working in one of the yards, watching and learning the trade from the elder craftsmen. Holland carries on this tradition today, building new versions of the Biloxi schooner and other wooden boats that have been used by local fishermen for over a century. He uses the same designs and many of the same building methods that were developed by the early Biloxi boatbuilders.
		Bill Holland (right) with fellow boat builder Jim Mowery. Bill Holland explains how he got started building boats. Get QuickTime™. Photographs by Tom Rankin. Audio courtesy of Mississippi Educational Network.

Click on a photo to enlarge it.

	Home | Music | Handmade Objects | Maritime Traditions | Quilting | Narrative Teacher's Guide | Resource Guide Boatbuilding | Netmaking | Veitnamese Fishing & Boatbuilding | Model Boatbuilding
		© Mississippi Arts Commission, 1999 Send us your feedback...