Lecture, video and exhibition re the Rushton Bucktail that Nessmuk paddled in Florida

[Glenn MacGrady]

This is a YouTube video of a lecture given last year by Michael Grace, the current president of the WCHA, about the Rushton Bucktail that Nessmuk paddled around Tarpon Springs, Florida, in the winter of 1885. Michael exhibits what is likely to be THE Bucktail, which he now owns. There is a video within the lecture that Michael and his son produced about the history of Rushton and Nessmuk, with many historical pictures as well as contemporary photography of the places Nessmuk paddled in Florida.

Michael also hints more than once that he may own the largest private collection of wooden canoes outside of museums.

The video is 1:23 long but, as a lover of canoe history, I found it extremely informative and entertaining.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Here is a pictorial article from the Antique and Classic Boat Society website that features three of Michael Grace's historic canoes.

Graceful Canoes - ACBS

Michael and Tanya Grace, Sunnyland Chapter We were very excited to meet ACBS Sunnyland members Michael and Tanya Grace at the Sunnyland Boat Festival last week where they displayed three fantastic canoes from their collection. Two of the three were not just antiques, but historic canoes at well...

acbs.org

From the article I learned many things, including that W.P. Stephens, who designed and built many award-winning small boats, was canoeing editor of Forest and Stream magazine, was co-founder of the American Canoe Association in 1880, and authored the seminal work Canoe and Boat Building: A Compete Manual for Amateurs, published in 1885, was from my hometown of Staten Island, New York.