04/08/2025
The official 2025 baseball season is underway! How many of you knew that Babe Ruth frequently visited Craven & Carteret counties to hunt - and actually came to Portsmouth for some duck hunting? According to Ben Salter in his book "Portsmouth Island, Short Stories and History" (copyright 1972), Babe Ruth hunted with the Salters from their gun club. The duck blind that he hunted from was subsequently named "The Babe Ruth Blind" after him. Pictured here are Babe Ruth and a young William Blades on "The Decoy", a boat that took many sportsmen to their destinations in Craven and Carteret Counties. (Photo is published in "Images of America, Craven County" by Lynn Salsi & Frances Eubanks (copyright 2001), courtesy of the G.A. Nicoll Photo Album, New Bern-Craven County Photographic Archive, New Bern-Craven County Public Library.)