Cedar Bark Canoe---Construction

Piney Boy

Piney Boy

Explorer
Sep 19, 2005
365
1
Williamstown, NJ
Tulip Bark Canoe---Construction

A little off topic, but not by to much I guess.
Avalon, Cape May Co's., first vistors were the Lenape. They came to this barrier island for the summer months and fished, hunted, crabbed, etc. When summer ended they returned to their mainland villages.......much the way most people still do today!
With that in mind I decided to give them some exhibit space in which I thought to place a cedar bark, or more appropriately tulip bark canoe. The canoe would be filled with different objects; fishing nets, baskets, faux clams, grinding stones, arrow tips, etc. Canoes were generally made from the Tulip Tree (called the "canoe tree" by the Lenape), and were made by slowly burning and then gouging out the interior until the desired shape and depth were reached.
Well I've looked into it some and thought I'd throw the question out to this bright crowd. Anybody have any experience making canoes?
 
GermanG

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,113
436
Little Egg Harbor
Sounds like a neat project. I do think you are speaking of two different canoe types though. Bark canoes, be they cedar, tulip or birch, were made by lashing pieces of bark to a frame, then waterproofing the seams with a locally available material. The canoe construction you describe, involving charring and scraping out, would be considered a dugout canoe, and would not likely have any bark on it at all. Bark canoes were far lighter, but required much more skill to build. I do know a local person who is part Ojibwa and has actually built a bark canoe. I can give you contact info via private message if you are interested.
 
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