Story of the Chestnut Canoe

By Kenneth Solway

Book Overview

The Chestnut Canoe Company began in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1897 and its impact was unequaled on the development of recreational canoeing and the canoe itself. Photos and images from the famed catalogues illustrate this intriguing Maritime story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551092212
• ISBN13: 9781551092218
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Nimbus Publishing (CN)
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Mandatory for any wooden canoe enthusiast!

In the authors own words, he did not write this book "...to be the definitive history of the Chestnut Canoe Company..." but to provide fuel for the fires of future debates, "...held in the Chestnut Pub, built from the old factory boiler room in Fredericton." Ken Solway has achieved his goals in this book for sure. If you have ever wanted to know the history of Canadian canoe builders around Peterborough, Ontario, this book is a must read. From the inspiration of the Aboriginal dugouts and birch bark canoes; through the all-wood Peterboroughs and Lakefields; and influenced heavily by the wood canvas canoes of Maine builders Gerrish, E.M.White and B.N.Morris; Ken leads us to Chestnut - a proud, often controversial survivor in the Canadian canoe world. It is refreshing to read the history of John Stephenson, Thomas Gordon, Daniel Harold, and William English, and the great impact they collectively had on canoe evolution in the Peterborough region. These early builders took the native dugout and applied English construction techniques, to deliver canoeing to the elite during the Victorian era of canoeing. Chestnut took the next step, and brought the Canadian canoe to the everyday man, by building over 60 models of practical, working canoes - taking over where these pioneers left off. In an admission of guilt that will make a Mainer both strut proudly and raise his hackles at the same time, Ken openly proclaims that Chestnut stole their first design from Maine builder, B.N.Morris. In a further act of business guile, William Chestnut managed to convince ten of Old Town Canoe's experienced builders to leave Old Town for Chestnut, across the border in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This act led to the first of many legal battles the Chestnut name has continued to fight, even to this day. Chestnut patented the process for building a wood and canvas canoe in Canada in 1905, leading eventually to the merger of the Peterborough and Chestnut canoe companies, and to some interesting partnerships along the way. History of the Chestnut family provides a nice perspective on the forces behind Chestnut Canoe. The insight that Ken offers on these dynamic Canadians, provides the backdrop for a canoe company that fought on for many years, building canoes, snowshoes and even toboggans, before finally succumbing to the economic pressures of the age of aluminum and fiberglass in 1961. The rise and fall of Chestnut, along with their predessors in the Peterborough area, captivates the reader, and ultimately leads you to the present day. Chestnut was ultimately split up and sold piece-meal at the bitter end, and Ken describes his current operation, where he builds Chestnut canoes on original forms and ships Chestnut labeled canoes, even though the trademark is not in his hands at this time. The Chestnut trademark at the time of publication anyway, is still in dispute. Bonus chapters on Omer Stringer and Bill Mason supply another look at t