About Us
There was a time, not so long ago, when the wooden canoe shop was not a shop, but a factory. Workers were assigned to specific tasks, like finishing or planking, which was their sole responsibility and involvement in the canoe building process.
Today's canoe shop is much different. Today you will usually find one or two people working in the shop who are responsible for every aspect of building process from start to finish. Whether it's answering the phones, milling the lumber, building the canoes, or doing the finishing work, today's shops are very much like a mom and pop one man marching band. Salmon Falls Canoe is one of these small little shops.
Salmon Falls Canoe is owned and operated by husband and wife Dylan and Emily Schoelzel. We are a small outfit that specializes in custom building of wood canvas canoes and the restoration of wooden canoes and small wooden boats. We only build and restore traditionally built craft. This is our full time profession and we take great pride in what we do.
The shop facility for Salmon Falls Canoe is set up in an old post and beam barn that was renovated by us specifically for canoe building and restoration. We are fully equipped with separate rooms for construction, milling, finishing, and plenty of indoor storage.
Below: Shop exterior, work bench inside shop
Below: Mill room on left, a some what crowded finish room on right
Dylan and Emily have over 35 years combined experience of canoe tripping in the north. Our trips have often lasted for 6 to 8 weeks at a time and have brought us to places like the wilds of Labrador, Northern Ontario, Quebec, and the Arctic Ocean. We only used wood and canvas canoes on these trips which is what ultimately drew us into building and restoring. Much of this time spent canoeing and guiding trips has helped shape the new canoes we offer.
Photo below: the sub-arctic of Quebec on one of our trips.
Emily's first summer in a wood canvas canoe was at the age of 12 and by the age of 16 she had traveled to the Hudson Bay on a 6 week voyage. In 1998 she was hired by Keewaydin Camps in Temagami Ontario to start an all women's canoe tripping program. Up until then Keewaydin had been an all boys camp since 1893. Emily started out with just 12 girls that first summer and today the program has an enrollment of nearly 60 girls. During the summer she serves as the Assistant Director for Keewaydin Temagami were she helps run not only the largest canoe camp of traditional canoes in the world, but also the oldest continuously operating camp in North America. Keewaydin has a fleet of over 130 wood canvas canoes and has been going strong every summer since 1893!
Dylan's first experience in a wood canvas canoe was a 6 week long canoe trip at the age of 14. He's been hooked ever since. Before setting up the now full time shop of Salmon Falls Canoe with wife Emily, winters were spent building and restoring canoes and summers were spent canoe tripping in northern Canada. When not in the shop Dylan can be found running their sawmill on their property. Dylan's favorite quote comes from his son Bronson;"I'm thirsty as a hot dog!"
Salmon Falls Canoe - Shelburne, Massachusetts 413-625-8555
Copyright © 2009