Antique Wooden Boat Museum in Clayton New York

The Antique Wooden Boat Museum is found in Clayton, New York.

This is a world class museum full of classic wooden boats of all types. It covers the evolution of boating from human powered crafts right thru the entire high speed racing time period. Today it is the center for the wooden boat restoration movement and the location for the annual conventions of folks who keep these waterborne treasure alive.  

These are what I think of when the term "Wooden Boat" is mentioned

Interestingly the first wooden boat you see on display is painted. After WWII premium wood was in short supply so boats were made of cheaper and more easily available woods which were then painted to give market appeal.

Even the models on display had fine wood working

Since a large portion of the year in New York involves frozen water it was not surprising to see a rather extensive display all about ice boating

When Julie and I became re-enactors for the Lincoln funeral I took on the persona of a business man in the ice harvesting profession. Hard to imagine the work required to keep food cold prior to the invention of refrigeration. Nice to see a display on the topic.

This house boat was a part of the George Boldt estate. In its day it was used to entertain and provide sleeping accommodation for a number for guests and their staff. After the castle and grounds were abandoned the boat sank at its slip in 12 feet of water flooding the lower level. 

It was raised and refurbished and is now a enter of attraction at the antique boat museum. Guided tours are available to see what life was like aboard in the 'Golden Age'.

You can see dents on the high gloss finish from the years of women in heels dancing.

The Museum maintains a fleet of wooden boats of all sizes and offers rides in good weather to allow visitors to experience the water at speed.

One portion of the museum is set up as if you were attending a boat show from the long distant past. Boats and advertising for boat builders of those time periods are part of the display.

The use of various types of woods and a gloss finish make for beautiful examples of wood working

Classic outboard motors and small racing craft were on display

Another building is their restoration shop. In addition to all sorts of boats under reconstruction there are displays of the various wood types and sections of trees used in boat building.

This was my most memorable part of the museum. It is a Fiberglas boat that has been faux painted to look the part of a classic wooden boat.  Wooden seats have been added and the entire boat is set up to allow photographs of visitors.

This building is full of human/wind powered watercraft from the earliest days of people on the waterways

Various construction methods for canoes were on display

Canoes are not especially easy to transport and most difficult if you have to carry them into a remote lake by float plane. Canoes that are able to be disassembled and the pieces fit within each other are the solution.

If you are at the museum in warm weather these boats are made available to you for rowing around the museum waters.

This building contains the earliest high speed racing boats and fascinating histories of those who raced them.

I enjoyed seeing the cutaway examples of boats showing the construction techniques

Selfie...

They also have a display of the logos and graphics of long gone boat and motor manufacturers