BRUNSWICK, Maine - One of the oldest-known examples of a Native American birch-bark canoe is on display at a museum operated by a historical society in Maine.
The Pejepscot Historical Society says the canoe dates to the mid-1700s. It's an example of the type of canoe that was critically important to the history and culture of the Wabanaki, the first people of parts of northern New England and Atlantic Canada.
The historical society put the canoe on display Thursday. The society came into the possession of it in 1889. It had spent three decades in a barn before being placed in the museum.
The Penobscot Nation's tribal historian James E. Francis Sr. says this type of canoe was "extremely important for your family's survival'' in his tribe. The Penobscot still build them today.
One Of Oldest Native American Birch-Bark Canoes Now On Display
Patrick Whittle
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Associated Press