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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.

Member Page submitted by Bob Johnston.
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from the McClurg Museum - Westfield, New York
©2007 - Chautauqua County Historical Society, Westfield, NY