Birch bark canoes: A strong tradition on the Penobscot water highway

Birch bark canoes, carefully handcrafted, are one of the most important traditions and skills of the Penobscots.

Not only are they magnificent to look at, they provided a means of transportation through Maine’s waterways.

Such canoes continue to be made today in the same way they were made by Penobscots hundreds of years ago.

“In the old days, canoes were our cars,” former chief Barry Dana said as he sat in a birch bark canoe near the edge of Compass Pond.

“These canoes are extraordinarily fast.”

The Penobscot word for canoe translates to “that which floats lightly upon the water.”

Each family likely would have had more than one canoe, Dana said. A 13-foot birch bark canoe can fit about four people.

“It’s the number one traditional skill of the Penobscots that sets us apart from other tribes,” Dana said.