TREASURE COAST BOATING
BOATS OF INTEREST
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became a schooner.
Thought to be the last sailing ship built
in America for the purpose of hauling
cargo, Lily made history, but in just a few
years her purpose diminished and by
1985 she was land-locked and unused.
For 10 years she was stranded that way,
without the sweet lapping of ocean
waves that keeps a ship alive. Her owner
intended to convert her into a yacht.
Enter Fred Newhart, Lily’s savior and
now her captain.
Newhart was working on board similar
vessels in Maine when he stumbled
upon Lily and fell in love. That was in
1999. Newhart signed onto the effort to
convert her into a passenger vessel and
in 2007, she was ready to sail once again.
“That’s when the Lily and I really connected,”
Newhart said.
Back in Stuart three years later, Newhart
met Jamie Miscoski, a classically
trained musician who had also grown up
in Martin County. He persuaded her to
join him on a lobster boat in Maine.
“I thought it’d be a fun new experience,”
Miscoski said. “I didn’t know
what I was getting myself into.” She
wasn’t aware that a summer of catching
lobsters and filling bait bags together
would turn into a business venture.
Newhart petitioned his previous
employer to sell him the Lily so he could
bring her back to the Treasure Coast, but
the owner would agree only if Miscoski
signed on as a partner. She didn’t
protest and together she and Newhart
brought the Lily to her new home in
Martin County.
Here she thrills passengers with daily
sailing adventures from the Riverwalk
Pier in Downtown Stuart. With every
trip, captain Newhart and first mate
Miscoski offer up a bit of history.
Travelers learn all about Lily’s and the
area’s maritime history as they feel the
sun on their faces and the wind in their
hair. They learn that the Lily is one of
only two scows used as passenger vessels
in the U.S. and the only passenger schooner
on the Treasure Coast. She’s also the
last remaining vessel of her kind originally
built to haul cargo commercially.
“Her existence is more purposeful than
it’s ever been,” attracting out-of-towners
to Stuart to shop, dine, and relax, Newhart
said.
But she does much more than stimulate
the local economy. She provides a
sense of pride and nostalgia for Newhart
and affords visitors a lasting memory of
an area rich with boating history.
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