Wooden Canoe Heritage Association

WCHA logo

The Wooden Canoe Heritage Association , WCHA for short , is a non-profit association founded in 1979 for the preservation and restoration of historic wooden canoes , data backup and research into their history, as well as the construction and maintenance of new boats. The association has around 2000 members worldwide, the majority of them in the USA and Canada . The association is based in Tamworth , New Hampshire .

structure

The WCHA is divided into several regional chapters . The chapters are set up as independent associations that operate under the guidelines of the WCHA. Their location and extent are based on canoe waters and not on national or national borders. For example, B. the Northwest Chapter the Pacific coast area of ​​the northern United States and Canada. Of the 18 registered chapters, only one is located outside of North America , namely in England .

Individual memberships directly with the WCHA are possible and are common outside of North America due to the chapter structure.

Chapter of the WCHA

• "Canada / Northern Lakes" in Ontario , Canada
• "Delaware Valley" in Pennsylvania , USA
• "England" in England, Great Britain
• "Great Rivers" in Wisconsin and Illinois , USA
• "Indiana" in Indiana , USA
• "Michigan" in Michigan , USA
• "Michigan Upper Peninsula" in Michigan, USA
• "Minnesota" in Minnesota , USA
• "Northeast" in Maine , USA
• "Northwest" in Oregon and Washington , USA, and British Columbia , Canada
• "Norumbega" in Massachusetts , USA
• "Southeast" in Florida , USA
• "Southwest" in California , USA
• "Three Rivers Chapter" in Pennsylvania , USA
• "Upper Chesapeake" in Maryland , USA
• "Valley of the Meramec Chapter" in Missouri , USA
• "Western New York" in New York , USA
• "Wisconsin" in Wisconsin, USA

activity

In connection with the documentation of historical boats and manufacturers, the WCHA maintains an archive with extensive information from the manufacturers such as B. Old Town , Chestnut or Willits . With several hundred thousand historical canoes, the production history is available and accessible to interested people.

The WCHA publishes its members' magazine Wooden Canoe six times a year , with reports on the construction, maintenance and restoration of wooden canoes, canoe trips and (historical) equipment. In addition, some chapters maintain their own members' magazine .

Every year in July, the WCHA has its general meeting called the “Annual Assembly”. In 2009 the anniversary meeting for the 30th anniversary of the WCHA with the focus on canoeing will take place at Keuka Lake , one of the " Finger Lakes " in New York State. The individual chapters have one or more major regional events each year.

Web links

• Internet presence of WCHA (Engl.)
• WCHA brochure (English, PDF; 3.55 MB)