TRR photo by Tom Kane Art Peck builds all of his boats by hand, in his garage on The Flats in Narrowsburg. (Click for larger image)

Art Peck: sailing toward his dreams

By TOM KANE

NARROWSBURG — Art Peck says you can do almost anything if you put your mind to it.

Like building a 24-foot sailboat in your garage, totally alone, totally by hand, after just reading a book about it.

Peck, 70, who didn’t have much formal education because he needed to work instead, climbed his way up the grocery business ladder in the classical American tradition of the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s.

“I guess I worked harder than anybody else and I quickly won recognition from my bosses,” he said. But that wasn’t enough. Peck wanted more.

“I figured you couldn’t make that much money working for somebody else, so I decided to work for myself,” he said.

Born in Damascus, PA, he married Beth, who lived in Beach Lake. The couple moved to Phoenix, Arizona because of Art’s health. Eventually they returned to the area and Art worked for a national food chain, learning the business. Soon he transferred that knowledge to his own store, first in Honesdale and then in Narrowsburg.

“Someone said to me, ‘I think you’re crazy. You have four kids and you’re moving to Narrowsburg to start a business!’” said Peck.

That didn’t stop him. After opening a store in the building next to the deck on Main Street, Peck expanded across the street and occupied most of the block on the east side of Main Street, from the Post Office to the corner. Currently, the Kelly building, the Lion’s Den and the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance exist on the same tract.

Peck’s efforts proved so fruitful that, in 1973, he built a pocket mall on Kirk Street, a second store in Callicoon and third in Livingston Manor.

Today, he owns the mall but not the supermarket. Fifteen years ago, he sold the business to his employees and retired, if “retired” is the precise term for his pursuits.

“I got interested in building boats after I built and reconstructed antique cars,” Peck said. “Someone gave me a copy of Wooden Boat Magazine and that got my brain started.”

Peck has built seven sailboats and one motorboat in the outbuildings on his property on The Flats in Narrowsburg. His current boat project, which takes up nearly the entire space of his building, requires a completely new method, he said.

From whom did he learn the skill?

“Nobody. I just got out some books from the library, studied them and then started building,” said Peck. “When I need to learn anything, I get a book out of the library about it.”

Libraries hold a special place in his heart. “When my wife Beth said, ‘Why don’t we build a library for the town?’ I said, ‘Great, let’s do it,’” Peck said.

The current Tusten-Cochecton Branch Library on Bridge Street, next to the Tusten Theater, which he and Beth donated to the town, is the result.

“When I see little kids come in and out of that library hugging their precious books, I think it was worth it,” said Peck.