About Us

Jon Wilson founded WoodenBoat Publications in September 1974 with the publication of the first issue of WoodenBoat—which he assembled from his off-the-grid cabin in North Brooksville, Maine. He sold 400 individual copies and signed up 200 subscribers at the Newport Sailboat Show that year, and WoodenBoat has been thriving ever since, providing its readers with a dynamic editorial environment that combines emerging technologies with traditional methods of boat design, construction, and repair.

The company has since diversified. Its next endeavor was the WoodenBoat Store, which initially sold back issues and T-shirts, and now sells fine tools, books, models, and clothing—among a host of other wooden-boat related items. In 1980, Jon established WoodenBoat School as a continuing-education venue for established boatbuilders—and as a place for prospective builders to learn firsthand how to bend and shape wood to craft beautiful boats.

The WoodenBoat Show, an annual gathering of fine wooden watercraft at Mystic Seaport, was founded in the early 1990s.

In 2014, WoodenBoat launched a separate web-based publication, Small Boats. Spun off from WoodenBoat's Small Boats Annual special edition (2007-2023), Small Boats's online-only platform delivers in-depth articles that inform, educate, and entertain every person interested in exploring small boats and the adventures that come with them.