SMITHFIELD, Va. — I visited the Isle of Wight County Museum to get the story behind a very rugged-looking canoe from the 1700s.
“It is about 12 feet long. So it’s rather large. And it is made of wood, specifically Cypress.” Rachel Popp, a Curator at the Isle of Wight County Museum, describes the item. “It is late 18th century, so probably about 1750 to 1800s time period. And it was made by early English settlers.”
This colonial canoe is an example of ways settlers learned from the local native Americans.
“It most certainly would have been used by the English to do some fishing and just light travel in the waterways here. They are really copying the way that the Native Americans are carving out and making these small vessels.” says Popp.
This cypress tree would traditionally be dug out by burning the inside and shaped using rocks and oyster shells. Popp adds, “That’s one of the reasons why we’re decently certain this one is kind of an English copy that was made a little bit later as well, because we do see some metal tool marks.”