The long-planned relaunch of the Lake Agawam Ferry—first begun by freed slave Pyrrhus Concer in the mid-1800s—will take place this summer.
Tomorrow, at a celebration of Concer's 200th birthday, Nicholas Palumbo, co-founder of the Agawam Ferry Project, will speak and be on hand to answer questions at the Southampton Historical Museum.
After being freed from slavery, Concer became a whaler, steering the whale ship Manhattan as it entered Tokyo in 1848. Foreigners were then forbidden to enter Japan but Captain Mercator Cooper and Pyrrhus Concer rescued two shipwrecked Japanese vessels, making the men something of celebrities. Concer then panned for gold in California, finally coming home to Southampton, where he ferried passengers across Lake Agawam for ten cents a ride.
Unlike the small catboat Concer used, the new ferry, called the Pyrrhus Concer, will be electric, transporting passengers from Monument Square to Gin Beach this summer.
· Agawam Ferry [Official site]
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