Skip to main content

Canoes: A Natural History in North America

Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims 2016

This is the story of the canoe, that singular American artifact so little changed over time. Featured here are canoes old and new, from birch bark to dugout to carbon fiber; the people who made them; and the adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America.

Follow author Mark Neuzil on Twitter: @mrneuzil

ISBN(s)

9780816681174 (hardcover)

Subject

Citable Link

Resources
Stats

Filtering by: Keyword Adirondacks

Start Over

Myron Nickerson, a former employee of J. Henry Rushton appears on the far right in this 1894 photograph. Nickerson’s livery on the Grasse River in Canton, New York, offered rentals of Adirondack guideboats, Rushton-style pleasure rowboats, small skiffs, and canoes. Nickerson holds a double-bladed canoe paddle in a boat that has also been fitted with non-feathering guideboat-style oars.

Myron Nickerson

From Introduction

Myron Nickerson, a former employee of J. Henry Rushton appears on the far right in this 1894 photograph.

A black-and-white portrait of George Washington Sears.

George Washington Sears

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

George Washington Sears wrote under the pen name “Nessmuk” in Forest and Stream magazine about his canoe trips in the Adirondacks. It was said that he taught America how to camp.

Dr. Arpad Gerster, a prominent New York surgeon, vacationed with his family in the Adirondacks during the 1890s. Here, Gerster portages a Rushton pack canoe at Camp Oteetiwi, Big Island, Raquette Lake.

Dr. Arpad Gerster

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Dr. Arpad Gerster, a prominent New York surgeon, vacationed with his family in the Adirondacks during the 1890s. Here, Gerster portages a Rushton pack canoe at Camp Oteetiwi, Big Island, Raquette Lake.

A painting of several figures cooking a meal next to a lean-to camp.

A Good Time Coming, 1862

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, A Good Time Coming, 1862. Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 76.2 cm.

A black-and-white photograph of the Hotel Ampersand, looming over Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks ca. 1890.

Hotel Ampersand

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

Hotel Ampersand looms over Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks ca. 1890.

The Sairy Gamp on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York.

Sairy Gamp

From Chapter 4: All-Wood Canoes

The Sairy Gamp on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York.

Railroad advertising, such as this 1920 poster by Walter L. Greene, attracted tourists to Lake Placid. An overnight train from New York City brought visitors, rested and fed, to the edge of the Adirondacks.

Lake Placid Poster

From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes

Railroad advertising, such as this 1920 poster by Walter L. Greene, attracted tourists to Lake Placid. An overnight train from New York City brought visitors, rested and fed, to the edge of the Adirondacks.

A watercolor painting of a solo canoeist fishing.

Adirondack Lake (Blue Monday)

From Chapter 7: The Human-Powered Movement

Winslow Homer, Adirondack Lake (Blue Monday), 1892. Watercolor on white wove paper; 30.1 × 53.5 cm (11 7/8 × 21 1/16 in).