An international organization of builders, paddlers, and admirers of wooden and bark canoes.
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The President's Deck
Well it’s that time again, canoes are getting snug in their racks, paddles hung on the wall with care and thoughts of what winter projects seem most appealing are running through our heads. 2025 has been a remarkable year for the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, as we reflect on our past accomplishments while looking ahead with excitement to the opportunities the future holds.
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We’ve launched a huge addition to our website, which I hope you have had a chance to check out, as well as planned strategic actions to guide the organization for the next five years. We’ve initiated efforts towards the 2026 Assembly at Paul Smiths and even begun considering ideas for the 50th anniversary of the WCHA in 2029! The Journal continues to flourish under the purview of our skilled and dedicated co-editors. We also continue to actively explore additional member benefits and brainstorm strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization.
Photo Credit: Betsy Wilson
As some of you know, this year has been rather eventful for me personally. Let’s just say there was an ambulance, some ‘intractable’ pain (a new medical word I learned and can validate) and emergency back surgery. A series of miracles lined up to help everything go successfully and now I’m on the long, and often uncomfortable, road to recovery. Needless to say, unfortunately my paddle got hung up way too early this year. However, looking back over the summer, there were some great memories made out on the water that I’ll treasure.
As many of you can attest, a medical setback like that definitely puts things in perspective and reinforces what’s important. As I sit here writing this piece for the Journal, memories from bygone summers also surface blending family and canoes. Memories of my kids helping with restorations while learning how to steam and bend a rib and clinch a tack, paddling on brisk early mornings looking for fish and keeping the kids interested by catching 15 bluegills at one fishing hole (probably mostly the same one, poor guy!) and watching the kids grow older and deftly paddle and maneuver a canoe by themselves. Canoes are a wonderful craft; they can allow you to explore on your own or keep those who are dear to you closer as you travel to new points unknown.
It’s funny how a canoe, seen as a simple watercraft, can offer so many experiences to so many people. It can allow us to detach; it can enable us to come together. It is accompanied by a history of togetherness whether it’s a guide transporting a customer in an EM White, a romantic couple out on the Charles River in a Robertson courting canoe, or a family fishing on a lake in their Old Town. It’s what brings all of us together as the WCHA community: like-minded people with an interest in sharing what we know and have experienced with others we care about.
Happy Holidays, enjoy those projects! Thanks for being part of this community.