Member Pages Chautauqua County Historical Society - Member Activities - Chautauqua County - New York - USA
Canoe Sailing in "Tootsie" on Chautauqua Lake
Chautauqua County, New York, USA
C. Malcolm Nichols, a now departed local history enthusiast / friend gave me a postcard showing his mother and father canoe sailing on Chautauqua Lake.
He told me the canoe's name was "TOOTSIE".
"Tootsie" ended up at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake New York
The Adirondack Museum purchased "Tootsie" from Byron McCullogh in 1963.
This photo is courtesy of the Adirondack Museum and the accompanying text from Hallie E. Bond the museum's curator.
Decked Cruising Canoe
L: 14' B: 30" Wt: 80 lbs
Built by an unknown builder ca. 1885. This centerboard-less canoe is the closest thing we have to MacGregor's Rob
Roy. It is primarily a paddling canoe; only the substantial keel provided
lateral resistance for sailing. The simple pin-and-lateen rig could be
doused from the cockpit and then lashed on deck while paddling. The bottom
is more vee-bottomed than a boat designed primarily for sailing.
Comfortable cruising was aided by a watertight cargo hatch and a wooden seat
with back. The wooden cockpit cover kept spray off the canoeists' legs.
Copper air tanks in bow and stern turned the boat into what Rushton would
have called an "unsinkable life-boat." In the photo Charles M. and Saidee
Sweet Nichols take this boat for a cruise on Chatauqua Lake about 1895.