Meryl Grandy

The Parkdale Maplewood Community Museum in Nova Scotia has a Mi'kmaq style bark canoe on display.




According to the description, the canoe was made  by  John "Stephen" Rafuse. The exterior of the canoe has painted a deep shade of green, however the interior remains an unpainted. Root lashings aren't visible and there appears to be a green painted inwale so it is likely held together with nails.

Another shot from the Museum's exhibit page shows the same canoe with a fishing net and an accompanying green paddle...

Google's  Cultural Institute site has large photos of the birchbark canoe model in the collection of The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Dated to 1780-1820, the souvenir artwork piece features dolls, a sail and paddles along with some highly ornamented decorative paintings.




Here is the description on the page:

This model canoe with its accompanying dolls and accessories was the product of French Canadian nuns and Abenaki or Huron converts working together in a thriving cottage industry in Montreal and Quebec. Many of the items they made were sent back to Europe either as gifts to Catholic churches in France or to fill the curio cabinets of Europe’s elite.

Similar souvenir based canoe models traced back to Quebec nuns and First Nation artisans are the model at the CMC, the Farquharson Model sold at auction in 2005, the Chartres Canoe Model and the Neuchatel model.  The decorations on the paddles all give a clue to the style of paddle art being made at the time.

Ever since getting a copy of Dr. Gordon Fisher's recent publication, Guideboat Paddles: An Adirondack Treasure, I've been curious about some of the paddles apparently on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain, New York.

I stumbled on a few personal photos on Flickr and Picasa of folks who've visited the museum and happened to get shots of the paddle display. Here's one from deshantm revealing 4 distinct paddles on a mounted display. The first two paddles have some interesting blade designs and grip style.


Adirondack Museum Paddles
Flickr user Alan Teichman, also had a shot illustrating the same paddles, but managed to get a clearer shot of the captions.


Photo Authorship Credit: Alan Teichman
Given the resolution of the original photo, here's what I could make out for the paddles (left to right)...

• Single Bladed Paddle made by Bradly ?, a young medical student on vacation in the Adirondacks around 1900. He copied the shape from an Abenaki model and added the Indian motif on the grip for a "romantic look"

• Single Bladed Paddled made by Dr. George Everett at Lake Ozonia for Dr. Edward Prescott of Potsdam. Dr. Everett was a summer resident who made cherry paddles as a hobby finishing them scraping with a broken piece of glass and applying a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine and vinegar

• Single Bladed Paddled designed and made by James McCormick around 1934. McCormick was a carpenter and boat builder...he made over 500 paddles of cherry and maple before his death

• Single Bladed Paddled purchased with a Rushton Indian Girl canoe. The owner added the red paint, his initials and the ??? to give the paddle a more romantic native look

I really wish museums would consider adding more virtual galleries on their websites. I think it encourages more interest in visiting the museum to see artifacts such as this in person.

Bob Holtzman runs a great blog on indigenous watercraft from around the world which includes some discussion on birchbark canoes. A recent post outlines some fantastic museum paddles from the Hudson Museum in Maine.

I especially liked the local paddles on display, one of which Bob mentions has metal strips to repair a serious split. The bottom two are long stern paddles which seem like early incarnations of the modern Northwoods paddles documented by the Conovers


Paddles from Maine
In the photo below, I'm really drawn to the grip style of the paddle on the left, a segmented grip that is reminiscient of my own version that I'm working on. This one has much more fluid lines however, especially with the additional indented edges. Had I not already thinned out my grip and balanced the paddle the way I like it, I think I would've preferred this style. Oh well, there's always the next paddle.


Segmented grip
Also on display is a decorated paddle from the Amazon with an interesting tip, perhaps to get a grip on shallow, muddy waterways when poling upriver.


Its design is similar to another Amazonian paddle I posted on earlier from a now completed online auction.

Amazonian Decorated Canoe Paddle, 60.5"
From the Estate of John Auraden of Hamilton & Fairhaven, Ohio.

Many thanks to Bob for taking these pics and giving us an inside glimpse of what the museum has to offer. If I ever make it out to Maine, I think I'll be checking it out in person.