By Gary Popp
Wilmington, NC – Plans for building a replica of a blockade runner ship could add a new tourist destination for Wilmington's downtown riverfront.
Cape Fear Community College is spearheading the effort. College spokesperson David Hardin says funding will come from private donors and federal grants.
We are going to have to hire some professional boat builders, but in addition to that, we are going to have some students that are in the boat building program to work on the ship, because that gives them experience on a ship they are not going to get in the regular program.
Hardin says the 80-foot replica will be used as a tourist attraction as well as an educational tool for the college's students. Organizers say it will take about six years to build the replica blockade-runner ship.