At 63 feet long, the Great Canoe is completely seaworthy! Well, it was originally. After hanging in a museum gallery for so long, maybe not. Carved in the 1870s from the trunk of a single cedar tree, it has design elements from different Native American peoples of the Northwest Coast, notably Haida and Heiltsuk.
Although it is not known for sure, the beautiful killer whale depicted on either side of the prow of the Great Canoe was most likely painted by Charles Edenshaw (1839-1924), one of the most influential Haida artists of his time, known for his woodcarving, jewelry, and painting. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.
