Pictured in his captain’s uniform during the annual flag raising ceremony, Charles "Bob" Martin, 87, is the longest-standing member of Seafarers Yacht Club in Washington, D.C.

A life preserver bearing Seafarers' name hangs on the wood-paneled wall of the clubhouse.

Bob Martin built Seafarers Clubhouse by hand in the 1960s with the help of his son Chubby and a few other friends. "When we come, there wasn't no building here, there wasn't nothing but tall grass, and weeds," says Martin. The structure now sits in the shadow of the larger Anacostia Community Boathouse.

Charles "Bob" Martin, 87, holds a photograph of himself with his late wife Natatchia. Martin has named four of his boats after her.

Martin's current boat, Natatchia IV, is docked at Seafarers today. He doesn't take the vessel, which is over 40-feet long, out much anymore, but he still visits the club nearly every day.

Joseph Quarterman (left), Bob Martin, Howard Gasaway, and Chubby Martin wear their Captain's uniforms as they prepare for the annual flag raising ceremony in June, 2016.

Charles “Bob” Martin

Some Seafarers members and their families celebrate Thanksgiving with an oyster roast.

Some Seafarers members and their families celebrate Thanksgiving with an oyster roast.

"I used to get off work about 5 o'clock in the evening, come down to the boat ... go underneath the bridge [to Georgetown] and see the traffic all backed up, and see just how blessed I was to be able to go underneath the bridge and look at the traffic bumper to bumper,” says Cornell Brown. “I said 'I can continue living this way,' you know? So this is what captured me and made me want to be by the water every day, if I can." 

Founded in 1945, Seafarers Yacht Club, is situated in southeast D.C., which has long been underdeveloped. The club lies at the end of a rugged asphalt road, framed by train tracks on the left, and the historically polluted Anacostia River on the right.

James "AJ" Hall fishes from his boat in 2015.

AJ Hall carries fish he caught from his boat, The Raven.

Many people fish from the historically polluted Anacostia River, but there are consumption advisories posted in English and Spanish along shoreline, "A consumption advisory is in effect for fish caught in these waters," the signs read, prompting anglers to check their fishing licenses or go online to see if their catch is safe to eat.

James "AJ" Hall walks down the dock at Seafarers to his boat, The Raven, on a Sunday evening in autumn of 2015. He died of cancer a little over a year later.

A train passes by Seafarers Yacht Club on the Anacostia railroad bridge, which was originally built in the 1870s.

Seafarers' members work together to take down a wind-tattered American flag on Earth Day, 2017.

A quiet evening view of the Anacostia River in 2017 after a heavy rain, which stirred up debris in the river. The Seafarers clubhouse and the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge appear in the distance.

Volunteers from the organization Concerned Black Men and their mentoring program "Just Say Yes" remove debris from the banks of the Anacostia River at Seafarers during the annual Earth Day clean up, now organized by the Anacostia Watershed Society, in 2013.

Shamaari Pondexter, a mentee in the "Just Say Yes" program cleans up driftwood at the annual Earth Day clean up in 2016.

AJ prepares to cook a catfish he caught on the Anacostia on the grill at Seafarers.

Cortez Fletcher takes part in the annual flag raising ceremony.

Photographs of past Seafarers' commodores and members hang on the wall inside the clubhouse.

Wearing a Santa Claus hat, Maurice Marshall runs the grill at a Thanksgiving celebration in 2015.

LaVenia Bailey and Irene Hall feel the music at Seafarers Clubhouse on a Friday night in December, 2012.

The clubhouse at Seafarers has been host to everything from Thanksgiving dinner (pictured here), to Friday night dances, to funeral repasts.

James "AJ" Hall takes festival goers on electric boat tours of the Anacostia River as part of the first ever Anacostia River Festival in 2015. The area's continued development has brought more attention and more visitors to the river.

A young girl wades in the shallow water on the shore of the Anacostia River. She visited Seafarers to participate in the 2013 Earth Day Clean Up.

Birds flock past the 11th street bridge, which crosses the Anacostia River, connecting Capitol Hill with the historic Anacostia neighborhood. The pillars of the old 11th street bridge are the proposed site of a future elevated park that's estimated to cost 45 million dollars.