Salmon Falls Canoe - our story

Salmon Falls Canoe, LLC is nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont on a quiet road.  The shop is surrounded by National Forest, a New England treasure as far as I am concerned. Our kids are sometimes greeted by moose on their walk down the driveway to the school bus.  I have the fortunate pleasure to break from work and walk through the woods and draw inspiration from the forest.  As a wooden canoe builder, this has always set me back on course. I don’t have a sign at the bottom of the driveway and I probably never will.  If you ask where we are, most people won’t know what or who you’re talking about.  I like it that way.  I like the work I do.  I am a believer in the wooden canoe, I think it’s tops when it comes to small water craft.  The wooden canoe is what I grew up with as a kid.  I have paddled them to arctic ocean on 7 week long canoe trips and down some of North America’s most majestic and remote rivers.  My kids learned to paddled them at a young age and we have sailed them throughout New England’s beautiful small ponds and lakes.

I build my canoes one at time, made to order from scratch.  In a day and age where everything is tasked out of house and brought back to a chain line for assembly, I guess I may be somewhat of throwback doing every step of the process myself.  But I like it that way. It works for me.  My hands touch every raw material before it’s shaped and made into a usable piece.   

The shop facility for Salmon Falls Canoe is set up in a new shop that was built by us specifically for canoe building.  We are fully equipped with stationary machinery and hand tools, and separate temperature-controlled rooms for construction, milling, finishing, and plenty of indoor storage for completed projects, projects waiting in the queue, and all of our building forms, jigs, lumber, and material. 

All of our work is commissioned custom work.  We do not build or restore boats on the speculation of a future sale. Our customers come from all over the country and abroad too.  We have done commissioned work for people in almost all 50 states and from Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Much of our time spent up north canoeing and guiding trips has helped shape the new canoes we offer. 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 ultimately what drew us into building. You can have all the formal classroom and computer training you want in a design, but nothing will teach you better about canoe design than paddling one for 700 continuous miles on lakes, rivers, oceans, and portages.

If it’s a traditional wooden canoe built with real hands and real craftsmanship that you want, a canoe built with time honored workmanship and integrity that will last you and the next generation a life time than you may have landed at the right place.  Take a look around and see if there is a canoe that will fit your needs.  If you’re not sure, reach out and ask.  I’m more than glad to help.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and look around here. I appreciate it.