B.N. Morris Canoe Company
The shapeliness, style, and workmanship of the Morris canoes and boats made some of the most picturesque craft that were ever built with this construction form.
Initially, canoes were built in a shop behind the Morris family home in Veazie, Maine.
However, in the eyes of many aficionados, the finest of all the early wood and canvas canoes were manufactured in the little town of Veazie, exactly midway between the two better known cities, by the B.N.
[3]When the shop behind the family home became too small for the growing company, it was replaced by a large factory-complex consisting of nine buildings, each serving a step in the canoe-building process.
[5] The evening of December 15, 1919, a fire, described in The Bangor Daily News as "... very spectacular, lighting up the country for miles around", destroyed the B.N.
[2] Initially offered in three grades, by the early twentieth century Morris advertised his canoes as being one grade only, the standard model being planked and ribbed in cedar, with spruce rails and decks, thwarts, and seat frames of mahogany.
[8] Early in the twentieth century, Morris began to advertise that his canoes were "all one grade" mahogany-trimmed vessels, available worldwide through dealerships.
Morris canoes were offered in a single grade, and are customarily found with mahogany decks, thwarts and seat frames.
Morris short decks are either heart shaped or display a gentle concave curve.
Serial numbers are found on small brass tags, either mounted on the stem or on the left inwale just after the deck.
They came from the Penobscot River in Maine long ago, and I treasure them for the tradition of craftsmanship in their construction, a pride not only of form and line but of everything that went into their building.
