Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland & Labrador

OUR BEGINNINGS
For generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians whose lives depended on the water, a boat was a veritable vessel – to security, to safety, and to survival. Being resourceful, resilient people, our forebearers fashioned their floating survival kits from the materials their unique environments provided. In the process, they became architects of not only the magnificent structures they built, but of an entire legacy – one whose existence was all but extinguished before 1997.
That was the year The Winterton Boat Building and Community Museum was started under the direction of the Town of Winterton’s Heritage Advisory Board. Recognizing the immense importance of wooden boat building in the construction of our cultural landscape, the organization sought to preserve the precious skills, knowledge and tools that today provide a pristine portrait of our collective past.
Expanding to become the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador (WBMNL) in 2008, the organization made its headquarters in Winterton, one of the many communities with a rich history of wooden boat building. It is here, through ongoing exhibits and workshops with descendants of wooden boat building masters, that a unique local legacy lives on – one that, like its authors, has persevered, despite the odds.
OUR EXHIBITS
Evolving Traditions: People, Place and Wooden Boats Exhibit
Meet and hear from some of the people who build boats using skills and knowledge passed down through the generations. Explore how tradition and innovation shaped the small inshore fishing boats of Newfoundland and Labrador. This exhibit is a representation of Newfoundland and Labrador’s diverse boatbuilding heritage and provides a window into the character of the people and the places they belong.
OUR WORKSHOPS
At our facility in Winterton, our resident Boat Builder and master storyteller demonstrates traditional and contemporary boat building methods in the construction of punts and dories. Follow in the footsteps of our forebearers and immerse yourself in this indelible tradition by taking part in one of our featured workshops!
We also offer a Junior Builder’s program for children ages 5-12 every Thursday and Sunday in July and August. Each participant assembles their own model sailboat, and we end the afternoon testing them out in the nearby brook. Be sure to bring rubber boots!