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Now on Exhibit through the fall
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, boat building on Long Island was both an art and a craft. The design and construction of boats required the skills of carpentry, smithing, sailmaking, ropemaking, rigging and more. Inherent in this was the obvious fact that the majority of this work was done by hand — power tools and computer aided design programs were both unknown and unimagined. What was known, and nurtured, was the craftsmanship of these shipwrights, their talents and their tools.
“Crafted by Hand” explores the “how” of boat building, including, the requisite tools and equipment. Just as the boats designed and built by Gil Smith are valued for their beauty, style and historic significance, so too, are the tools of this bygone age of craftsmanship, which are now as much a work of art as the boats they were used to create.
Nautical Safari
When it comes to boats and boatbuilding, there’s a whole menagerie of animals associated with the craft. In fact, you could say that a hand-built wooden boat is pretty much a Noah’s Ark. Very often 19th century shipwrights named their tools or parts of a boat after animals because they thought they either looked like them or accomplished a similar purpose. Sometimes you can look at a tool or a part of a boat and say, “I get it, it does look like that!” However, there are times when you’d really be surprised by how these items got their names. Visit the Museum, tour “Crafted By Hand,” grab our big game check list and then explore our buildings and grounds tracking down these nautical animals.
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