Capt. Merritt Watson, longtime fisherman, to be honored in Pamlico

GRANTSBORO - Anyone who knows history or fishing in Pamlico County has heard of Capt. Merritt Watson.

On Sunday, he will be honored during an afternoon of tributes at the Pamlico County Heritage Center.

Watson, who is now 95, stopped going on the water, because of health concerns, only a few years ago.

He still lives in Lowland, near where he was born in 1912.

He worked on the water from an early age and later in life was one of the first Pamlico County commercial fishermen to venture outside Pamlico Sound to fish in the Atlantic Ocean.

For a time as a young man he drove a produce truck, and for a decade in the 1960s he went inland to manage a poultry plant in Rose Hill. His love of home remained strong and he brought his wife, Mary Jane, and the children from Duplin County to Lowland each Sunday for church.

But he spent most of his life on the waters fishing all along the Eastern Seaboard, again always returning to his home and family in Lowland.

Sunday's tributes begin at 2 p.m., with remarks by President Larry Prescott of the Pamlico Historical Association and Watson's minister, the Rev. Norman Miller of Lowland Church of Christ.

Watson's son, the Rev. Merritt Watson Jr. of Arapahoe, will introduce the family and talk about his father's life as a fisherman.

Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association a George Peacock, chairman of the Pamlico County Heritage Village, will close out the program.