Billm
Canoes & Guideboats
Several weeks ago, while killing some time in lower Manhattan (not my usual stompin' grounds), I wandered into a
small cafe to find some nourishment. I immediately noticed a beautifully restored Charles River-style wood/canvas
sailing canoe hanging from the ceiling. I asked the waitress about the boat and she said it belonged to the cafe
owner who wasn't there at the moment.
I was back in the area a week or so later and finally met the owner. He said the boat was a Kennebec, built in the
early teens. He found the boat in a barn in the lower Hudson Valley and spent several hundred hours restoring it.
He said he also had four boxes of documentation from the Kennebec Company. The following day I stopped back and he
showed me some color catalogs, a large Indian-head decal and some old newspaper articles.Then he brought out a book
containing what appeared to be the original stock certificates issued in 1909 to a Mr. Terry and a Mr. Grant. He
said he also had all the original printing plates from the Kennebek catalogs.
The gentleman expressed some interest in attending the Assembly at Paul Smiths to share this information with
interested members. The last time I visited him he hadn't made a decision about whether he would attend.
And his cafe serves great crepes!
small cafe to find some nourishment. I immediately noticed a beautifully restored Charles River-style wood/canvas
sailing canoe hanging from the ceiling. I asked the waitress about the boat and she said it belonged to the cafe
owner who wasn't there at the moment.
I was back in the area a week or so later and finally met the owner. He said the boat was a Kennebec, built in the
early teens. He found the boat in a barn in the lower Hudson Valley and spent several hundred hours restoring it.
He said he also had four boxes of documentation from the Kennebec Company. The following day I stopped back and he
showed me some color catalogs, a large Indian-head decal and some old newspaper articles.Then he brought out a book
containing what appeared to be the original stock certificates issued in 1909 to a Mr. Terry and a Mr. Grant. He
said he also had all the original printing plates from the Kennebek catalogs.
The gentleman expressed some interest in attending the Assembly at Paul Smiths to share this information with
interested members. The last time I visited him he hadn't made a decision about whether he would attend.
And his cafe serves great crepes!
