The Adirondack Guideboat Today

In 2022, Bernard W. Brock of Hague, on the west shore of Lake George, New York, took an interest in restoring a boat that had long been stored in his family’s barn. He knew that his great-great-grandfather, George Tupper, had brought the boat with him from the Adirondack Mountains when he moved to the shores of Lake George. That was in 1876, when Tupper was 30 years old, and he may have sensed opportunity in the lake’s tourist trade, where burgeoning hotels were much busier than the summer fishing and rusticating camps he had known in the mountains.

Bernard thought it was time to honor his ancestor by bringing the boat back to working order, and he started by sanding the exterior. But then he hesitated. The boat was in remarkably good condition for its age. He knew it had to predate 1876—but by how much? He decided to consult a professional, Reuben Smith at Tumblehome Boatshop in Warrensburg, which is in the foothills of the mountains.

When Reuben went to have a look at the boat, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Its smooth planking, achieved by using feathered overlapping plank edges, was very light. Its shape was unmistakably that of an Adirondack guideboat, and it was not only in good condition but almost entirely original. It was an unusual transom-sterned model, with the transom sculpted from a single piece of wood, morphing into a broad-profiled sternpost at its lower end. That transom shape marked it as a very early example of the type, similar to others that first appeared in about 1850. It was a 15-footer, shorter than the 16' that later became the preferred length. It weighed only 45 lbs, which is lighter than the common weight of about 60 lbs. In shape was characteristic of boats from the Long Lake region of the mountains.

Well familiar with the rowing craft of the Adirondacks, Reuben was excited by the boat’s rarity. He told Bernard that his boat was, in fact, one of fewer than 10 of the early type known to exist. It was the kind of boat, he advised, that should be brought to the attention of the Adirondack Experience (formerly the Adirondack Museum) in Blue Mountain Lake, whose collection of some 70 Adirondack guideboats had only three similar to this one. Bernard not only took Reuben’s advice to contact the museum but also donated the Tupper boat to the collection.