Birch Bark Canoe Launch & Demo

Reuben Butch Phillips -storytelling, lore, canoes, environmental advocate


The exhibit, which features a traditional 14 foot Penobscot birch bark canoe, is designed to promote understanding of the use and building of the birch bark canoe, one of the most recognizable Native American contributions to modern culture.

Methods of gathering and preparation of natural materials will be explained using a display of the raw materials and canoe building tools, a collage showing the various steps of canoe building, and a scale model canoe under construction. In addition, many items associated with Native canoe use will be shown including traditional etched paddles, 10 foot salmon spear; traditional Penobscot longbow, pack basket, birch bark moose call, root clubs, stone axe, sweet grass baskets, crooked knives, and more.

Butch Phillips is a Penobscot elder whose expertise is as a Maine guide and builder of traditional birch bark canoes. In addition to his local presentations, he has presented Wabanaki cultural programs in Europe. Most recently Butch worked with the Thoreau celebration and led the re-enactment treks of Thoreau's journeys in Maine. These resulted in a book of essays and photos called Wildness Within, Wildness Without edited by Bridget Besaw.

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The Grand Design

Two Nights Only! Reservations Recommended!


The Grand Design is an historical drama with music which commemorates a 1740 shipwreck of Scots-Irish immigrants on Grand Manan Island. Abandoned by a treacherous captain, exposed to weather and extreme hardship, ten women and an infant survived the winter and were rescued by Passamaquoddy.

This is their story, told in their own words and with music of the era.

The Grand Design was first presented by the Heartwood Regional Theater Company in May, 2007. It has since been performed in New Brunswick, Canada, at the Boothbay Opera House, and in South Carolina.

This production will feature professional musicians, a Native American storyteller, and local actors, singers, and dancers.

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