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Saybrook’s Most Notable Duck Dynasty on Display

History is on display at the Acton Public Library, 60 Old Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook in the shape of carved and painted decoys that represent Saybrook’s most notable duck dynasty.

The story begins in 1942 when Richard Harris, Sr., joined Wildfowler Decoys, a prominent Old Saybrook decoy company owned by Ted Mulliken, as the foreman of the finishing department. A few years later his wife Marion joined the operation to design and paint many of the decoys. By the mid-1950s Wildfowler Decoy owner Mulliken retired to Florida and Richard and Marion Harris began their own decoy business. They bought a carving machine and worked from their home to produce decoys and decorative items.

Mulliken’s Wildfowler Decoy factory and everything in it was destroyed by a fire in 1957 and the business was sold and re-sold and moved several times.

Bob Harris, the grandson of early Wildfowler employees Richard and Marion Harris, today carries on his grandparent’s tradition and sells decoys and outdoor items as the owner of Harris Outdoors, Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook.

Several outstanding examples of decoy craftsmanship are on display at the library. The exhibit is sponsored by the Old Saybrook Historical Society. Area residents with old items that they wish to display may contact the historical society at 860-395-1635 or talk with any librarian.

“You might say that Bob Harris just took to it like water off a...oh, well...see for yourself,” says Tedd Levy of the Old Saybrook Historical Society.

The decoys are currently on display and are scheduled to run for several weeks, according to Levy.