voc ep 66: Laurence Woodrow Hartge
From boat designer and builder, yacht and real estate broker, to founder and director of the Hartge Nautical Museum, Laurence Hartge (10/31/1916-1/18/2010) never strayed far from the water's edge. His paintings reflected his heritage as well as the love of a life on the Chesapeake and beyond. Laurence's lifelong love of sailing was nurtured by his nautical family, which founded one of the oldest family-owned boatyards on the bay, Hartge Yacht Yard. The son of Oscar and Alice Wayson Hartge, Laurence grew up in Galesville, Maryland. Working in his family's boatyard, he learned the skills that were to shape his future boating life. He was an enthusiastic and competitive racing skipper on the Bay. Laurence joined the Navy in 1940. As a Signalman, he was assigned to a large convoy of ships leaving San Francisco, responding to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He recalled the difficulty of maintaining ship formation due to wartime black-out conditions. He served throughout WWII as a Signalman aboard tankers pumping fuel to ships all over the Pacific theater. After the war, Laurence stayed on the west coast with his wife Anne, building twenty houses in the San Francisco area. Laurence and his family returned to West River in 1952 to rejoin his family boatyard. He took sketches of his ideal cruising sloop to his uncle, E.H. (Dick) Hartge, to help realize his dream. With Dick's guidance, Laurence designed and built the 26' Quadrant. Hartge Yacht Yard built eighteen of the boats, actively racing and cruising the Bay for decades. In 1962, Laurence established Hartge Yacht Sales and Hartge Yacht Insurance. In 1967, he bought Annapolis Yacht Sales and established Hartge-Dahlby Real Estate. Retiring to Siesta Key, Florida in '81, Laurence continued to be active in real estate, as well as competing in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit. He eventually moved to Fernandina, Florida, and became a docent at the Amelia Island Museum of History. After returning to Annapolis in the late 90's, Laurence realized another dream. As the historian and keeper of family artifacts, he (with his brother Robert Hartge and the help of family friend and designer, Peter Tasi) created the Hartge Nautical Museum, located in the old family home at Hartge Yacht Yard. In 2009, the Annapolis Maritime Museum invited Laurence to create a retrospective exhibition regarding the Hartge family's legacy to the Chesapeake. This extraordinary opportunity brought Laurence's life full circle. (Excerpted from the Laurence Hartge obituary. Photos courtesy of the Hartge Family Archives. Intrvw 2007.)
