AFTON HISTORY

When I bought Afton in May 2013 the seller didn’t know much about her history.  While cleaning out a drawer, I found an old USCG document (literally under a pile of rusty old fishing tackle) which said the boat had been built in 1935, in North Bend, OR, by Neil Banks.  I googled his name, and that brought up a book: a short history of North Bend published by a local maritime and history museum.

I called the museum and asked if they had any more information about Neil Banks or a boat called the Afton.  The museum (which actually had a set of Neil’s woodworking tools on display in their maritime exhibit), put me in touch with Neil’s niece, Mary Granger, who was then 98 years old.  We spoke by phone several times, and I then traveled to North Bend to meet Mary in person.