Gum-Tree Canoe

There is an old minstrel song from the 1840s about a "Gum-Tree Canoe." I am curious to know what exactly the "Gum-Tree canoe" was made of, and what the reference might have signified at the time it was written. Did southerners make dugout canoes out of the indigenous sweet-gum tree? I believe spruce gum is traditionally used in making some bark canoe, so I was wondering if the "gum" could be referring to sap resins used in constructing bark canoes in the American South. Any thoughts you have on this subject are greatly appreciated.

William Kerrigan

 

Black Gum aka Black Tupelo. Fine grained and at one time frequently used for dug out canoes. Grows from New England to Florida and west through the Great Lakes in the native range and these day probably all over. Another frequent tree used for dugouts is Tulip aka Yellow Poplar. The name,"yellow Poplar" is misleading as Tulip is in the Magnolia family.

 

That's an interesting bit of information, Jan... Thank you!

 

Yes, thanks Jan. Very interesting!

 

if you don't know the song, for a good performance see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDdkVAK60lqzQ&v=dkVAK60lqzQ

Gum Tree Canoe was published in 1847 in the book Plantation Melodies. The song is part of the blackface minstrel tradition in which performers (generally white) sang and danced in purported imitation of the music and dances of African Americans. The cover of the book indicates "Words by S.S. Steele, Esq. as sung by A.F. Winnemore and his band of Virginia Serenaders; Arranged for the Piano Forte by A. F. Winnemore."
Lyrics to Gum Tree Canoe

Gum Tree Canoe

chorus:

Singing row away, row o'er the waters so blue
Like a feather we'll float in my Gum Tree Canoe
Singing row away, row o'er the waters so blue
Like a feather we'll float in my Gum Tree Canoe

verses:

On the Tombigbee river so bright I was born
In a hut made of husks of the tall yellow corn
It was there I first met with my Julia so true
And I rowed her about in my Gum Tree Canoe

(chorus)

All day in the fields of soft cotton I'd hoe
I think of my Julia and sing as I go
Oh, I catch her a bird with a wing of true blue
And at night sail her ‘round in my Gum Tree Canoe

(chorus)

With my hands on the banjo and toe on the oar
I sing to the sound of the river's soft roar
While the stars they look down on my Julia so true
And dance in her eyes in my Gum Tree Canoe

(chorus)

One night the stream bore us so far away
That we couldn't come back, so we thought we'd just stay
Oh, we spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue
And it took us in tow in our Gum Tree Canoe

(chorus)

 

John Hartford was truly a great fiddle and banjo player that I met and spent an hour or so with once. But his version of Gumtree Canoe is a very modern arrangement done ala bluegrass style banjo. Minstrel style banjo aka stroke style banjo is very different.

 

You can see all of this (verbatim) and much more at the website of Ballad of America, a project by Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band, dedicated to preserving and promoting folk music. Cool stuff; it's worth checking out:

http://www.balladofamerica.com/music/indexes/songs/gumtreecanoe/

 

Thanks for all the information in this very interesting thread. An important part of the history of the canoe includes the music it has inspired... and the ways in which that music has been used.