Citing safety reasons, Southport Mayor Joe Pat Hatem had crews remove the anchor from the parking area beside Whittler’s Bench last fall. It was placed at a new location near the pier on the waterfront this week.
Citing safety reasons, Southport Mayor Joe Pat Hatem had crews remove the anchor from the parking area beside Whittler’s Bench last fall. It was placed at a new location near the pier on the waterfront this week.
The anchor at the Whittler’s Bench has found a new home after being kept in storage for several months.
Fans of the Southport landmark won’t have to go far to see the anchor as its new location is only a few yards aways on the waterfront.
On Tuesday Mayor Joe Pat Hatem had the anchor placed to the right of the Southport City Pier, beside the Southport Rotary Club map and telescope. Hatem said he decided to remove the anchor from Whittler’s Bench last November, citing safety reasons.
“(The anchor) was right there where the parking lots are,” Hatem said. “For people trying to get out of their cars, the anchor was right there. People were tripping on it.
“It’s in a safe environment now and a prominent place on the waterfront. That was the plan all along when I moved it. I came down ... and looked around and noticed it would be the perfect spot because it really just added to that spot. Nobody is going to trip over it and open their car door and hit it.”
How long the anchor rested at its previous location nobody seems to know, Hatem said, but historic photographs of the area show many of the former landmarks around Whittler’s Bench no longer exist. From Miller’s Hotel to Mac’s Cafe, Hatem said, Mother Nature and time have changed the historical landscape of the waterfront, yet Whittler’s Bench remained.
“The anchor was not an original part of Whittler’s Bench,” said Hatem. “There has been an anchor there from time to time, but if you look at the early pictures of Whittler’s Bench, there is no anchor there. We wanted to put it in a safer environment and have it displayed properly, like a monument to our maritime history and our city. We can let Whittler’s Bench stand alone as its own symbol of our city.”
Little is known of the anchor’s history and how it came to become a Southport staple. Hatem said city staff has made efforts to uncover some of the mystery surrounding the anchor’s heritage, but have had little luck.
There are photographs of the anchor at the Whittler’s Bench as far back as 60 years ago.
“I don’t know how long the anchor had been there or who even put it there,” Hatem said. “We’ve been asking around to find out the origin of it. I don’t know what the origin of the anchor is and nobody appears to know. I’ve asked and no one can tell me the exact origin of the anchor is. It’s been here at least the past several decades, but I have no idea of the origin.”
Hatem said the anchor spent the past nine months with the city’s public utilities department in an unspecified location as he figured out where to place it.
