This site has a long history of exceptional boat building and restoration, which continues today. 35-year old Ralph Wiley came here from Long Island in 1928, with dreams of building boats. The protected creek-side location was perfect, and local skilled labor was plentiful and cheap. Top wages for a skilled shipwright at the time for a 55-hour work week were $17.50 with only three paid holidays.
Over his career, Wiley was involved in nearly every significant development in the field of pleasure craft construction. He designed and built numerous motor and sailing vessels, including the first two Comet class sailboats. His sailboats were fast and often took honors at numerous regattas.
For his residence, Wiley bought a small cottage located at Market and South Morris streets, the current site of the Oxford Museum. The house, built in 1695, had been abandoned and was in disrepair. It had been unoccupied for years except for a mule that lived in the kitchen. Wiley purchased the building for $250. To move it down Tilghman Street, he had to have it sawn in half. The walls, he discovered, were lined with brick which made this a bit more difficult than planned. He was charged another $250, doubling the cost of the house. He named the house Byberry after the village where Mary Wiley’s ancestors lived in Philadelphia. Byberry remains in the same location at Cutts and Case and serves as a private residence and is believed to be the oldest home in Oxford.
Wiley sold the boatyard and house to Edmund Cutts and John Case Shipyard in 1963. Looking from the street at the front windows you can see some of their most beautiful projects, including the motor vessel FOTO. The boat had been owned by Morris Rosenfeld and Sons, one of the premier yacht photographers in the world, and served as the chase boat for their photography work. The company continues to design, build, and restore boats with a specialty of historic wooden craft.
Cross Tilghman now and walk up to the large red building on your right. (Stop #19)
