Seafarers Yacht Club

Seafarers Yacht Club
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The clubhouse seen through the perimeter fence, May 2025
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Location	1950 M Street, S.E., Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°52′45″N76°58′29″W / 38.87917°N 76.97472°W / 38.87917; -76.97472
Built	1964
NRHP reference No.	100007666 [1]
Added to NRHP	May 2, 2022

The Seafarers Yacht Club, originally known as the Seafarers Boat Club, is a boating club on the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. It has been identified as one of the oldest Black boating clubs in the United States. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

In 2022, its clubhouse at 1950 M Street SE was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ^[2]

History

Back of the clubhouse in May 2025, seen through the perimeter fence; note the historic sign at the gate.

The Seafarers Boat Club was established in 1945 by Lewis Thomas Green, an African American public school teacher and boatbuilder in Washington, D.C. ^{[2] [6] [7]} Seeking docking space and having been rejected by the whites-only boating clubs along the Anacostia River, Green worked with the civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune to lease a spot on the river from the U.S. Department of the Interior. ^{[2] [6]} The hard-won lease at 1950 M Street SE, between the Anacostia Railroad Bridge and John Philip Sousa Bridge on what some described as "one of the worst pieces of land along the riverbank," began in February 1947. ^{[2] [7] [8]}

After growing throughout the 1950s, the yacht club saw membership decline due to increasing pollution of the Anacostia River. ^{[2] [9]} In the mid-1960s, it merged with D.C. Mariners, another African American club founded by Green's former student Charles Martin, under the name Seafarers Yacht Club. ^{[2] [3] [6]} Green sold the land to this new organization. ^[2]

In 1964, the Seafarers Yacht Club built a new clubhouse, where members could gather and host social events, as well as a new wheelhouse. ^{[2] [5] [8]} Martin, with the help of his friends and his son Chubby, built the clubhouse by hand. ^{[7] [8]} It features specially designed canted windows resembling a ship's pilothouse that look out onto the river. ^[5]

The organization grew again, adding a Women's Auxiliary Club and Junior Boat Club, and it started participating in races around the region. ^[2] In 1965, it became the first African American boating club to join the American Power Boat Association. ^[5] To protect the future of the Anacostia River's Black boating clubs, in 1972 the Seafarers Yacht Club worked with Washington Yacht Club and others to found the Anacostia Boating Association. ^{[2] [10]}

In response to the river pollution that first threatened the club decades earlier, the organization established the now annual Anacostia River Cleanup Day in 1985. ^{[2] [3] [11]} They view themselves as stewards of the polluted and often overlooked waterway, which has seen environmental improvements in recent years. ^{[7] [8] [9] [12]}

The Seafarers Yacht Club was the subject of a photography exhibition at the Phillips Collection in 2018. ^[7] It is featured on both Cultural Tourism DC's African American Heritage Trail and the D.C. Preservation League's Civil Rights Trail. ^[5]

Present-day

The Seafarers Yacht Club has around 45 active members as of 2022. ^[13] As of 2023, its commodore was Tony Ford. ^{[14] [15]} The organization aims to maintain a space for affordable boating in an increasingly gentrifying city. ^[14]

In May 2022, its clubhouse, wheelhouse, and 1947 boat ramp were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, on the basis that "the club is emblematic of the nationwide struggle of African Americans for equal access to facilities and fair treatment." ^{[2] [5]}

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "Seafarers Yacht Club". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
3. Brown, DeNeen (September 29, 2011). "The story of the Seafarers Yacht Club, one of the nation's oldest black yacht clubs". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 7, 2023.
4. Kelly, John (February 8, 2016). "Amuse yourself: Remembering a time when black recreation ruled". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 7, 2023.
5. "Historic Landmark Case No. 22-02: Seafarers Yacht Club" (PDF). Historic Preservation Review Board. February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
6. Russell, Tonya (May 1, 2022). "The Storied History of the Seafarers". Boating Mag. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
7. Okona, Nneka M. (October 4, 2019). "Sailing Old Seas". Bitch Media. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022.
8. Harlan, Becky (September 1, 2017). "They Built Their Own Boating 'Shangri-La.' Preserving It May Be Just As Hard". NPR. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
9. Knoblauch, Jessica A. (August 9, 2021). "An Infamously Dirty River Is Coming Back to Life Thanks to Community Activism". Earthjustice. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
10. "Seafarers Yacht Club" (PDF). Government of the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board. October 13, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
11. Krasny, Marianne E. (June 15, 2018). Grassroots to Global: Broader Impacts of Civic Ecology. Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-1-5017-1498-6.
12. Dvorak, Petula (July 6, 2023). "The Anacostia is finally safe to swim. Thank this 91-year-old boat captain". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 16, 2024.
13. "Seafarers Yacht Club". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
14. Harlan, Becky (September 1, 2017). "They Built Their Own Boating 'Shangri-La.' Preserving It May Be Just As Hard". NPR. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
15. Dvorak, Petula (July 6, 2023). "The Anacostia is finally safe to swim. Thank this 91-year-old boat captain". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 16, 2024.