Canoeing is a perfect activity in Maine. Maine has abundunt lakes, ponds, rivers, and protected bays, marshes and estuaries along the coast. From gentle current to whitewater, you can spend several days along Allagash, Penobscot, St. John, Moose, St. Croix and Machias rivers without encountering towns and public roads. Canoe outfitting, rentals, shuttle services, instruction, and guided trips are available throughout the state. Whatever your interest or ability, you will find a paddler’s paradise in Maine.

Check out the Northern Forest Canoe Trail,  a 740-mile (1,190 km) marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent in Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states and provinces of Vermont, Quebec, and New Hampshire. The trail was opened on June 3, 2006.

about the Canoe

A canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over (i.e. covered, similar to a kayak).
In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of paddles, usually by two people. Paddlers face in the direction of travel, either seated on supports in the hull, or kneeling directly upon the hull. Paddling can be contrasted with rowing, where the rowers usually face away from the direction of travel and use mounted oars (though a wide canoe can be fitted with oarlocks and rowed). Paddles may be single-bladed or double-bladed.

History of Maine Canoe

The earliest commercial builder of wood-and-canvas canoes appears to be Evan H. Gerrish of Bangor, Maine. Gerrish, a hunting and fishing guide from Brownville, Maine, who came to Bangor in 1875 … started experiments with a wood-and-canvas building system. … by 1878 Gerrish was regularly producing about 18 canoes a year at his shop at 18 Broad Street. By 1882 he had hired his first employee and was building about 25 canoes a year at the average price of $25 each. The reputation of the canvas canoe was spreading to the recreational market. Gerrish already had customers far from Maine, and in 1884 he was producing over 50 canoes annually and had sent several canoes to an exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition.

Soon other companies up river from Bangor were developing their own canvas canoes and improving the manufacturing process. B.N. Morris started the Veazie Boat and Canoe Company on the second floor of his home in Veazie in 1882. It soon became the B.N. Morris Canoe Company, and for a long time it was one of the largest and best known canoe companies in the world until a fire destroyed the factory in 1920.

Up river from Veazie, at Gilman Falls, E.M. White started producing canoes in 1888. In an interview in 1901 in the Old Town Enterprise, Mr. White told how he became interested in building canvas canoes. “I saw a man by the name of Evan Gerrish of Bangor riding in the Penobscot River in a canvas-covered canoe. I quickly saw the advantages of that kind over my birchbark, which moreover leaked. I examined the canvas canoe closely, and in a short time was able to produce one which was so good someone wanted to buy it.” White started building canoes at his Gilman Falls family home by boiling ribs in his mother’s washtub and using a horse on a treadmill for power. White’s brother-in-law, E.L. Hinckley, became a working partner and provided the capital to open a large shop in nearby Old Town. The Carleton Boat and Canoe Company of Old Town built batteaux and bark canoes in the 1870s. Carleton appears to be the only one of the batteaux and/or bark builders who switched to building canvas canoes and as such was the only one who brought any previous boat building experience to the industry. Carleton was later bought by the Old Town Canoe Company in the early 1920s.

LL Bean Canoes and Kayaks

Check Out Old Town Canoes and Lincoln Canoes, still making canoes in Maine