Best in Show


When Ken Kelly first found Dodo on eBay, a circa 1915 Charles River courting canoe, he knew he wanted it despite the holes in the deck and the bottom. Unlike others he owned, Dodo epitomized the flourish and style that turn-of-the-century canoe builders would add to tantalize users and buyers. It took consultations with several restorers before Kelly was comfortable that the restoration would proceed in a way that would preserve its historic character.


“Forty-eight-inch deck courting canoes are rare enough,” says Kelly, who acquired the canoe in 2001 from a Rhode Island antique dealer and had it restored in 2011. “The decks on this were five feet long. I’d never seen a canoe with those before and Dodo is still the only one.


“It doesn’t leave much room for oc- cupants, when there are only about four feet open for you and your fair lady, but that is just what a courting gentleman wants,” he says.


“I ended up finding a few others, mostly


that needed repair, but it wasn’t very long before I had six canoes,” he adds. “About a year after I got that first one, I


realized I liked the look of the long decked courting canoe,” says Kelly, the type with the graceful, ornate designs and long, wooden decks that had no functional purpose other than style, and to create a more intimate space for turn-of-the-cen- tury couples. “I didn’t think I’d ever find one so I commissioned a builder who had an old mold and had him build me a rep- lica of a Charles River Torpedo, a 1915- to 1920-era canoe.” Kelly still owns that courting canoe along with 16 others, three or four of


which will be displayed at the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, On- tario, starting in April when the museum opens a yearlong special exhibition called “Canoes and Romance.” “We have gramophones, postcards,


posters and great movie clips,” says John Summers, the museum’s general man- ager. “We have covered bigger themes in the past, such as the fur trade and explo- ration—this will be the pop culture of ca- noeing on display. “Ken’s canoes are beautiful and courting


canoes are a beautiful stage in canoeing. The flourish of the Charles River scene is a relatively small part of canoeing history, but it’s a fascinating part,” he adds.


Courting canoe, Canadian style. Here’s the lowdown on Dodo and a few favorites in Kelly’s collection


CANOE Dodo


BUILDER MODEL LENGTH BUILT


ACQUIRED RESTORED FEATURES Unknown


Courting canoe 16 feet


Circa 1915, Charles River area, Boston, MA 2001


2011 by Rollin Thurlow, Northwoods Canoe, Atkinson, ME


Long 60-inch decks, paint


scheme matches original canvas; cedar ribs and planking with mahogany decks and trim.


NOTABLES 52 | Canoeroots


The only canoe with 60-inch decks that Kelly has ever encountered,


though five-foot decks were offered in canoe catalogs during the period.


Trois Plumes (Three Feathers) Ted Shea


Courting canoe 16 feet


Circa 1925, Foxboro, MA 2008


1998 by Dan Sutherland, Sutherland Boat and Coach, Hammondsport, NY


24-inch decks, unique locking compartment under the front


deck; cedar ribs and planking with mahogany decks and trim.


Two-time winner of the Clayton


New York, Antique Boat Museum “Queen of the River” award.


K


Kingsbury Torpedo 16 feet


Circa 1915, Weston, MA 1997


1998 by Gil Cramer, The Wooden Canoe Shop, Bryan, OH


Long extended end shape referred to as a torpedo; cedar ribs and planking with mahogany trim.


Kelly purchased it from a Boston restorer once the restorer learned the owner was running out of money to pay for the job.


Carolyn


Thompson Brothers Boat Co. Indian 16 feet


1921, Peshtigo, WI 2006


2012 by Bob Johnson, Johnson


Woodcraft, Traverse City, MI and Lew Markle, Lew’s Canoes, South Wales, NY


30-inch decks, original cedar


ribs and planking with quarter- sawn oak decks and trim.


Kelly purchased it from a Grand Rapids-area family. It was


“grandpa’s” canoe and had rotted and been painted green inside.


PHOTOS: COURTESY KEN KELLY


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