Social Media Images

[Benson Gray]

A red, white, and blue canoe for election day: The bow of a 25-foot Old Town War Canoe which was restored in 2013 by members of the WCHA's Northwest Chapter. This canoe has touched the lives of many residents in Grays Harbor, Washington over the years. Photo by Mike Livdahl. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #oldtowncanoe #mikelivdahl

 

[Benson Gray]

A TRUE CLASSIC: The elegant bow of a Thomas Gordon Canoe from the late nineteenth century. This canoe was given to the WCHA by the family of Felix Badcock in the United Kingdom. It was restored by WCHA member Alick Burt. Here she is on the River Thames early one morning, being the first time the canoe had been on the water for 35 years. It is one of the two known Thomas Gordon canoes in the UK. Photo by Nick Dennis. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #thomasgordoncanoe #thamesriver

 

[Benson Gray]

Four Chestnuts at rest on Pocumcus Lake in Maine. From left to right are: Robin Lauer’s 15-foot Chum, Brendan and John “Fitz” Fitzgerald’s 17-foot Prospector, Adam and David Dumas’s 18-foot Prospector, and Steve Lapey’s 15-foot Chum. Photo by John Fitzgerald. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #chestnutcanoe #pocumcuslake

 

[Benson Gray]

Light as a Feather: The 1941 Old Town war canoe Keladi appears to float on air at Camp Sweyolakan on the shores of Mica Bay, Coeur d’Alene Lake, Idaho. This twenty five foot long Old Town war canoe took the better part of two summers to restore as deck supports were fashioned, the stern stem was replaced, new gunwales were crafted, seats rebuilt and caned, and the old canvas was stripped and replaced. Photo by Eileen Mathews. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #coeurdalenelake #campsweyolakan #oldtowncanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

Atkinson Traveler number 1000: Anne Swidarski and Mark Dagenais were the winners of Atkinson Traveler number 1000 from the Northwoods Canoe Company at the 2014 WCHA Annual Assembly where they promised it would be used. This photo was taken later that year during a paddle on Lac La Pêche Gatineau Park, Quebec. Photo by Mark Dagenais. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #atkinsontraveler #northwoodscanoe #laclapeche

 

[Benson Gray]

Highly Polished: Michael Grace captured this image of the brass hardware adorning his Peterborough cedar rib canoe Ruth. Photo by Michael Grace. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #peterboroughcanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

A long carry: Keewaydin’s Section A on a portage in northern Quebec with Hudson Bay in the background. Keewaydin first began leading canoe trips for young boys and men through the north woods of Maine in 1893. It has been in continuous operation since its founding year and is home to the world’s largest fleet of working wood-and-canvas canoes, 125 in total. Photo by Norman French. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #keewaydin #hudsonbay

 

[Benson Gray]

A Family Day: Mike Darga takes his grandsons Max and Mason for their first paddle in Winter on the Ausable. Photo by Debbie Darga. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #ausablehriver

 

[Benson Gray]

SMALL BUT SATISFYING: Ken Kelly’s “Button” was built in 1997 by Tom MacKenzie of The Loon Works. Covered with dacron, the canoe comes in at at delightful 35 lbs and is a very responsive canoe. Here it sits outside Ken’s cabin at Twin Lakes in Michigan ready for a chilly paddle. Photo by Ken Kelly. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #twinlakes #loonworks

 

[Benson Gray]

War Baby: Ted Michel is shown paddling War Baby, his 17 foot long Old Town Otca model in AA grade from 1943 at the 2011 Assembly on Lower St. Regis Lake at Paul Smith’s College. Ted reports that this canoe behaves very well in the water. Photo by Jim Wilson. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #paulsmiths #adirondacks #wchaassembly #lowerstregislake #oldtowncanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

The Locker Room at the Dayton Canoe Club in Dayton, Ohio as they celebrated their hundredth anniversary in 2013. Photo by Robert Hock. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #daytoncanoeclub

 

[Benson Gray]

Sailing Away: Dan Miller sailing at the WCHA Assembly on Keuka Lake in 2009. Dan built this reproduction of a 16-30 decked sailing canoe. The original canoe was made around 1910 for the Gananoque Canoe Club and re-designed for plywood construction by John Summers. Photo by Jim Wilson. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #keukalake #fingerlakes #wchaassembly #deckedsailingcanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

Canoe Mountaineering in Scotland: Graham Warren’s 16-foot Peterborough design, built by Mike Morris and Graham Warren in 2011, on a trip through the Inverpolly region in the far northwest of Scotland. Photo by Andrew Birdsall. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #inverpolly #scotland #peterboroughcanoes #mooseheadcanoes

 

[Benson Gray]

Which side goes down?: Jim Wilson built this lovely little cedarstrip canoe for his daughter Alex and he wondered which side goes down in Lower St. Regis Lake during the WCHA's Annual Assembly. Photo by Betsy Wilson. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #paulsmiths #adirondacks #wchaassembly #lowerstregislake

 

[Benson Gray]

UFO (unidentified floating object): Tucker Stevens restored this canoe by an unidentified maker. Mike Livdahl took the photograph at the Northwest Chapter’s spring meet in 2012. Photo by Mike Livdahl. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #mikelivdahl #ufocanoe

 

[Andy Hutyera]

Benson, Thanks for maintaining this post. I really enjoy the images and look forward to your contributions. Wishing you a happy if unusual Holliday season.

 

[Benson Gray]

You are most welcome. It has been interesting to also see the followers grow to over 1120 on Instagram and more than 3000 on Facebook. I will run out of good color images with detailed captions from the WCHA calendar and Wooden Canoe covers by the middle of next year. I don't want to repeat old postings so will probably transition to images without full captions soon. I wish you and everyone else a good holiday season as well.

Benson

 

[Benson Gray]

Rudolph: Ken Kelly owns this 17-foot Racine Navaho built by Jack McGreivey of McGreivey’s Canoe Shop. Photo courtesy of Ken Kelly. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #racinecanoe #mcgreiveycanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

Resting: Rita Coon took this photo of Doug Cropper’s Old Town 17 foot long sponson canoe from 1929. #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #oldtowncanoe

 

[Benson Gray]

Dodo: Ken Kelley says "This canoe is one of the few with 60 inch decks. It was important to restore it with the original decks. Three of the four mahogany deck pieces were in great condition, but the other had a hole in it with the original wood missing. It was important to match the existing deck wood and patch the hole so it would blend in as well as possible. Rollin Thurlow did a CNC process to cut the deck and patch to match perfectly. Since we had the original canvas we matched the color and design as well as we could to stay true to the canoe’s history. It is a favorite canoe. Other people tell me they know of other 60 inch deck canoes but I don’t see them at Assembly or anywhere else so I wonder how many are really out there?" #wcha #wchaorg #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #charlesrivercanoe #northwoodscanoe