Class launches boat-building project

If you make your way over to Johnson Lounge, you might be surprised at what you’ll find. This month, the  Winter Term class “Vermont Waters” has taken over the lounge and converted into a boat-building workshop, where they are building reproductions of two historic boats from the Lake Champlain valley.

The class, co-taught by Assistant Professor of English and American Literatures Dan Brayton and guest professor Douglas Brooks, a local boat-builder and researcher, examines the waters of Vermont through two sources: literature and material objects.

“I’m trying to introduce students to working with material objects and trying to show them what clues they have to history,” said Brooks.

Along with reading various types of literature looking at Vermont in its broadest sense — not just the lakes, but the watershed, rivers, even the water in the trees — Brayton is helping the class learn to use objects as sources. In the process, they are analyzing and documenting two historic boats and replicating them.

“It’s not just artifacts,” Brooks said. “I facilitated interviews with two local muskrat trappers. One was a man who’d been trapping every year since 1964. Ten years ago, he took a 12-year-old boy trapping with him, and that boy, now 22, came with him to our class. It was a really interesting interview.”

In the Lake Champlain area, trappers have traditionally built their own boats, which is unusual and offers a different view on the history.

“It turns boat-building into a folk art — a sort of untutored craft,” said Brooks.

One of the two boats that the class is building is a replica trapping boat. They will also be taking a field trip to interview Bud Smith, a man living in Middlebury who trapped 50 years ago.

“Part of the reason I picked muskrat trappers is that they are the furthest removed person from a college student here at Midd,” said Brooks. “But the kids have come to realize that there is common ground between them.”

“Interviews with the trappers were informative,” said Christian Woodard ’10.5, “though I think we could have learned more by walking on a piece of property with them.”

“The oral interviews are showing the students what a resource people are,” said Brooks. “A 68-year-old muskrat trapper knows incredible subtleties of the environment. The students were blown away by the wealth of knowledge these men have about the natural environment. What you learn in class and books is knowledge; what these men offer is wisdom.”

But it is a two-way street. The local people give to the students, sharing their experiences and wisdom, and the students give back in return, even if they do not realize they are doing so.

“Talking to the trappers was a powerful experience,” said Pier LaFarge ’10.5. “At the end of the interviews I went up to talk to Scott, the younger trapper who had been learning from his grandfather, and he told me that our comments and perspectives on trapping had taken him entirely off guard. He had been expecting opposition, and was even worried that some hippie would throw paint on his furs. Instead we were fascinated, totally wrapped up in their stories and their deep knowledge of these animals and the ecosystems they inhabit. I think the experience was eye-opening for both sides.”

“Bud Smith stopped me on the street and began to tear up,” Brooks said. “He told me how moved he was that those students cared about his life. The students have a powerful role to play. They can really impact the lives of the local Middlebury residents.”

And it is not just the personal connections — the students’ end of the term projects, many of which encompass more local interviews, will be archived at the Vermont Folklife Center, where they will be available for anyone to view.

“Most of these projects are completely original research,” said Brooks. “I told the students, this project has a life beyond the paper due in this class. It’s an amazing and powerful thing for Middlebury students.”

And of course, do not forget the boats in Johnson Lounge. The students are completely replicating, to exact measurements, a historic trapping boat and another historic boat from Panton, Vt.

But they need help — the class is asking the college community to suggest names for their boats. To submit a name, just e-mail the name and explanation to LaFarge at plafarge@middlebury.edu. The class plans to collect the entries and pick two names for their boats.

The boat building would not have been possible without the help from two local businesses: R. K. Miles Lumber in Middlebury and Lathrop’s Maple Supply in Bristol.

“The class has been really amazing, and I’m learning a lot of the hands-on woodworking skills that I wanted to when I signed up,” said LaFarge. “Dan and Douglas are both incredible teachers, and bring a lot to the classes and labs. Both of them are just doing what they love to do, and that makes all the difference in a class.”