Dugout Canoe
Original Vessel for the Navesink River
The original vessel for the Navesink river probably was the dugout canoe. American indians on the Navesink River did not use birch bark canoes, but rather used dugout canoes.
In our area the dugout canoes were probably made from Tuliptree logs, which are by far our largest native tree species, and which is eminently suited for dugout canoe building (another name for the tulip tree is canoe wood). Before steel tools the Lenapi made their canoes mostly by controlled burning, although later canoes used a combination of burning and carving with steel tools.
For further information contact Rik van Hemmen.