Historic Dugout Canoe Receives Repairs this Summer
An historic dugout canoe on display at Weymouth’s Tufts Library will undergo repairs and preservation work this summer. The Town Council has authorized $9,185 in Community Preservation Act funds to stabilize the canoe’s cracks and build an airtight custom container to prevent further erosion. The work will be completed by Found Legends Restoration, a conservation firm operated by two Weymouth High School metal shop teachers.
Uncovered by a group of teenagers in 1965, the canoe was found partially buried in the shoreline at Great Pond during a drought. The boat was carved from a white pine log and measures approximately 11 feet long and two feet wide. Carbon testing dates the artifact back to as early as the mid-1400s.
The more than 600 years old canoe likely belonged to a local Native American tribe from the Blue Hills, according to Weymouth’s Historical Commission Chair Ed Walker. Tribe members would return to Great Pond in the spring, using the pond as a launch site to traverse Weymouth’s waterways and catch fish. Before returning to the Blue Hills in the winter, it was not uncommon for the fishermen to bury dugout canoes in a shallow part of a pond, thus keeping the boats safe until next spring. The teenagers who discovered the canoe turned it over to the town’s Historical Commission, which has loaned the artifact to the library for display ever since.
Back in 1965, polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used to preserve the canoe after it was unearthed and dried out. PEG has been used worldwide on objects that have been salvaged from underwater, including the Viking warship Vasa in Stockholm, Sweden. This summer, the preservation work on the canoe by Found Legends Restoration should keep the vessel intact for at least another 150 years. Found Legends Restoration will use a special glue to seal the canoe’s crevices. The artifact will then be encased in an airtight, hand-made container filled with argon gas, which prevents mold and protects against dryness, humidity, and insects. Argon gas is currently used by the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to preserve the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
For more information of the canoe, residents are encouraged to visit the Weymouth Museum, operated by the non-profit Weymouth Historical Society, in the lower level of the Tufts Library. Please see the museum’s webpage for contact information and hours of operation.