The Small Craft Building features two exhibits: The Perfect Canoe in the Pauline Morgan Dodge Gallery and The St. Lawrence Skiff: Our Indigenous Watercraft in the Miller S. and Adelaide S. Gaffney Gallery. The St. Lawrence Skiff is a new exhibit installed in 2023. The Small Craft Building also houses the Fred Thomas Gallery & Skiff Livery. To learn more about each exhibit and the Skiff Livery, read below. For a sneak peek at the Small Craft Building and the exhibits as they were in 2020, check out The Wooden Boat Experience’s episode from the Tour of the Galleries Scott Ouderkirk took us on during our virtual opening.
The Perfect Canoe
The search for the “perfect canoe” began when some clever person first straddled a floating log and hand-paddled their way across a bit of open water. The early dugout, bark and skin boats of North America were well developed within the constraints of the materials and tools available at the time European explorers reached North America. As recreational canoeing grew rapidly following the U.S. Civil War, the quest for the perfect canoe continued, and continues even today.
But just what is the “perfect canoe?” Depending on the needs of the user, it might be stability and safety, or it might be speed. For early members of the American Canoe Association, it was a canoe that was equally suitable for long distance cruising and for racing. For some it might be extremely light weight, for others it might be durability or carrying capacity. For manufacturers, the perfect canoe might be embodied in the ease of construction or the cost of materials used.
The canoe is a seemingly simple type of watercraft, perhaps deceptively so. Typical shapes and sizes of canoes dictate that performance characteristics are a series of trade-offs. For example, a stable canoe will have a wide, flat bottom, with the width carried well towards the stems. A canoe shaped like this, though, will not be fast, and so would not make a good racing canoe. Even a racing canoe will have wildly different shapes depending on whether the race is a flat-water sprint or a downriver slalom.
Is there such a thing as a “perfect canoe?” Probably not! But as you explore this exhibit, you may discover your perfect canoe.
The St. Lawrence Skiff: Our Indigenous Watercraft
The St. Lawrence skiff is often described as the indigenous watercraft of the St. Lawrence River and for good reason. This superb craft, in its present form, emerged more than one hundred-fifty years ago in the 1000 Islands region of the St. Lawrence River. The craft became the principle means for personal river transportation and serious fishing during the mid-1800s during the golden era of river development. The skiff proved to be an ideal boat for local fishing guides who routinely covered long distances in a day’s outing. They required a stable craft to haul in their regular large catches. By the 1860s, St. Lawrence skiffs had evolved into a truly graceful form that would become universally accepted as the standard design among the River’s builders.
However, the St. Lawrence skiff loans itself well to modification for many purposes. From rowing and fishing to sailing and even powered craft, the St. Lawrence skiff has had many variants throughout history.
Through a generous gift of the Miller S and Adelaide S Gaffney Foundation, a reinvigorated display featuring the St. Lawrence skiff and its many variants was installed in the Miller S. and Adelaide S. Gaffney Gallery.
Fred Thomas Gallery & Skiff Livery
The Museum first opened its working skiff livery in 1999. Many of the skiffs used in the livery were made in boatbuilding classes held at the ABM or by the Builder in Residence. In addition to a number of St. Lawrence skiffs, the livery offers a variety of other rowing craft to try including three Slipstream Watercraft canoes and an Old Town kayak. Visitors to the Museum are welcome to take out any of these crafts during their visit. To learn more about our rowing opportunities, click here.