Army Veteran Builds Life-Sized Pirate Ship For Trick-Or-Treaters Outside His Tennessee Home

It’s a pirate’s life for this Army combat veteran… at least for the Halloween season.

A man by the name of Bionner Puerta, who resides in Clarksville, Tennessee (about an hour northwest of Nashville), has already done enough in terms of serving others. Puerta served in the U.S. Army, was deployed to Afghanistan, and apparently had three different near-death experiences while he was in action.

Though he’s now retired from the Army, he’s still looking for ways to serve. That led him to explore how he could help his direct community, and the end product was building things to provide experiences to the youth during the holidays. The latest endeavor is a life-sized pirate ship that now sits in his front yard.

He and his fiancé, Jennifer Pierce, are proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish thus far, as Puerta explained to News5:

“Knowing the things I went through, that I’m not supposed to be here… for some reason I am. As a veteran, it’s important because time is precious, and in a moment’s notice, you’re not here. I’m trying to make a difference by giving as much as I can with what I have.

And what I got is my hands and I could build stuff. No, we’re not Disney, but I think it looks pretty cool for just being a retired combat veteran and a stay-at-home mom. I think it’s pretty neat.”

The display is a part of what Puerta and Pierce have coined Handmade Holidays On Raven. They saw a need for memory-making activities in the Clarksville area, and set out to provide experiences during the later part of the year. Their Halloween display is obviously impressive, but the work they do around Christmas is also commendable.

According to them, in just the past two years, they’ve managed to give out around 3,000 toys to children and 300-plus gift cards to teenagers that come by their set up. Those gifts that are given away are often thanks to donations from community members that visit their Halloween and Christmas displays. Handmade Holidays On Raven doesn’t charge anyone when they stop by, but they do appreciate donations.

And I bet you are wondering… what inspired them to build a big ol’ pirate ship – fit with sails, realistic canons and a steering wheel – in their front yard? Well, it’s like how any good idea starts… randomly. As the story goes, Bionner Puerta dressed up as Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean films a couple of years ago. A trick-or-treater asked him where his ship was, and at the time he didn’t have an answer.

Now, he can just point right at the huge ship that’s docked right off the front porch of his house.

The Army veteran didn’t know much about ship building, but that didn’t stop him from going full sails ahead with the idea in his head. Puerta says things slowly came together, and now he and his partner proudly house what is quite possibly the only pirate ship in Tennessee:

“I didn’t know how to build a ship. I just went at it, little by little, and went for it. I just see cool stuff and then you know… just start building.

There’s no pirate ships in Tennessee. So to be able to come here and see an actual pirate ship and go up on top of a pirate ship and be a pirate. I think that’s pretty cool. We made it important to have something where when they pull up, it’s that wow factor and they will never forget it.”

You can view pictures of the impressive, interactive pirate ship display that’s completely free to the public in the post below from Handmade Holidays on Raven. The Clarksville, Tennessee couple also has a GoFundMe that’s accepting donations to help cover the expenses that have come with putting together the display and helping their community.