The Boat Building Program was developed to teach local high school students how to build boats, with the goal of getting youth interested in the River. The Boat Museum believes that the best way to encourage our local youth into appreciating the historical, cultural, and economic opportunities that exist in their backyard (the 1000 islands), is to get them on the water!
Over the years, the Boat Museum has finished several boatbuilding projects in partnership with the local high school, Gananoque Intermediate and Secondary School (G.I.S.S.), in the classroom and at the museum. The Boat Building program has undertaken construction and restoration projects with engaging classes and interpretive workshops in boatbuilding and woodworking structured around them.
The latest boatbuilding project in 2021 was a handmade birch bark canoe built by an Indigenous creator on site at the museum. All boatbuild projects over the years were commemorated with a celebration at the Museum as the boats were launched into the St. Lawrence River for the first time.
