Greg Hatten
The 1929 canoe as the author first saw it inside a barn in his hometown of St. Joseph.
When the barn door swung open, I saw the vintage, dark-green canoe suspended upside down from the joists in block-and-tackle slings. The only thing missing was a blinding light and a church choir singing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” My visit to the barn in St. Joseph, Missouri, was intended to be a boatbuilder’s “house call,” in response to the request of a friend to have a look at an old wooden boat and render an opinion before a fast-approaching estate sale. This was easy—my opinion, upon first glance, was, “I must own this canoe.”