Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WOODENBOAT SCHOOL
build a wooden boat from scratch
BROOKLIN, MAINE
When I finish high school, I'll go home with a diploma.
When I finish up here, I'll go home with a boat.
—Chris Everett, participant in a boatbuilding workshop
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If you don't have the time or freedom to apprentice yourself to one of the handful of
American boatbuilders, consider a vacation to Brooklin, Maine. This little town on Penobscot
Bay is known as the “boat building capital of the world.” Even the K-8 Brooklin school sys-
tem offers a boatbuilding program for students that ends in junior high with a finished boat.
Ninety-five percent of Brooklin's 850 residents have either built their own boat or plan to
someday.
The town also has a one-of-a-kind school that teaches would-be Popeyes how to build
their own boats. Whether your fancy is a yacht, a canoe, a skiff, or a sloop, the WoodenBoat
School teaches traditional boatmaking skills. Stay long enough and you'll even leave with
your own boat. At the 60-acre campus that overlooks the Atlantic, you can also take courses
in seamanship, marine carving, and other crafts related to boatbuilding.
