Boat center preserves iconic wood, iconic craft
- By Jeff Zeringue / Forests & People
- 13 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Louisiana is home to lots of craftsmen whose goal most often is to create something attractive. The art of boat building is one craft that isn’t just for its beauty but for its function as well.
For years the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building has shown the styles and function of watercraft and now is seeking a new home to continue its mission.
For centuries, craftsmen and builders in Louisiana have used cypress to make water craft of all kinds, including the almost iconic dugout pirogue.
Through the efforts of Tom Butler and Dr. John Rochelle at Nicholls State University, the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building was launched in 1979. Several people donated or put on loan pirogues and other boats their ancestors made.
The first place for the artifacts (boats) to be displayed was on the ground floor of the Ellender Memorial Library on the Nicholls State campus. Meanwhile at a maintenance barn on campus, boat builders were invited to make skiffs, pirogues, luggers and other types of craft, according to the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building website, traditionallouisianaboatbuilding.org.
Gatherings at the center taught anyone with an interest to learn about wooden boat building and the Cajun heritage that surrounds it.
In 1984, the center made its own contribution to the World’s Fair held in New Orleans. A handmade dugout pirogue and a standing rowing skiff were featured and are still “a cherished part of our collection,” according to the website.
In 2007, the center had grown and needed its own place. The Friends for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building worked out an agreement with Lockport town officials to set up shop in a former Ford dealership, then owned by the town. Many pitched in to restore the building.
With space to grow, many other people donated boats, tools and artwork, even antique boat motors. Many Cajun artifacts filled their new facility.
Volunteers pitched in and gave tours to tourists and locals alike, touting how Cajun history was being preserved. There also was a workshop where restoration and boat building could be performed. Cypress paddle making classes also were held.
The center housed its artifacts and history and held events there until 2021. That’s when tragedy struck.
Hurricane Ida came ashore Aug. 29, 2021, and ravaged Lafourche Parish. The town of Lockport was struck hard and the boat building center was severely damaged.
“There were two skylights that were blown off and the front doors were blown out,” Vickie Eserman, a center board member and secretary/treasurer, said.
“It was basically wide open,” said Ernie Savoie, the center’s director. “We had to start closing up the doors and everything.”
Eserman has been on the board for about 10 years. She became a member after her father, who was then on the board, died. Her father, Richard Gibbens, was an antique machinery collector.
“He found a Lockwood Ash 1916 marine engine, and he wanted to build the boat to match the engine,” the retired elementary school teacher said. “So after he restored the engine, he went to the boat center, when they were at Nicholls, and built the boat from a single cypress sinker log.”
He was apparently hooked and remained with the center.
Savoie, a third-generation carpenter, said he was accustomed to building houses. His father had built boats and he helped for a couple of them. So when he was asked to help out at the boat center in Lockport in 2014, he was coaxed into staying and helping with the boat building portion, and was soon included as a tour guide.
“I learned so much from doing the tours and everything,” he said, recalling how some refer to the iconic dugout pirogue as Cajun. Actually, he said, he learned that it was a design Cajuns copied from designs Spaniards brought to Louisiana from South America.
When co-founder Butler died in 2018, Savoie slipped into the director’s role and has been there ever since.
In the years since Ida’s destructive blow, the center has been trying to find a place to call home. Initially, the board worked with the town for about two years when it was offered to purchase the damaged building in Lockport. However, when they asked a structural engineer, “and basically he shook his head; it was beyond repair,” Savoie said.
The center had a chance to store its artifacts in a building in Thibodaux, he said, but were asked to removed the boats after more than a year. Then help came from the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District. Savoie said they were allowed to use a different building in Thibodaux along the bayou side. It isn’t large enough to hold everything, so board members and volunteers keep some of the boats at their homes.
With the boats protected from the elements, the board returned to its roots at Nicholls State. The university told them it was interested in having the center back on its campus. The property where the new center is to be built will be leased to the center for 30 years, and the lease is renewable.
Now supporters hope to build its new center along Bayou Lafourche across La. 1 from the university. Eserman and Savoie have taken lead roles in an effort to raise $2 million to build the new center in Thibodaux.
Since the capital campaign began in May, the center is at about 20 percent of its goal, Eserman said. With every dollar raised, they believe it shows the center’s desire to have a place to showcase a bit of Cajun culture board members say shouldn’t be lost.
Eserman and Savoie hope as more money is raised through its efforts that include making appearances at festivals, it could entice larger donors to participate in boosting their coffers.
“We’re a 100 percent volunteer organization,” Eserman said, which makes raising money more challenging.
The center is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, which makes donations tax deductible.
“We’re hoping to get it done within a year, and we have plans for the building,” Eserman said. “We have everything ready to go. So, as soon as the money is raised, we’re going to build it.”
Having such a center that focuses on part of a culture’s history is important, and it’s more than being able to appreciate a culture.
“I mean, who’s going to remember them if you don’t tell their story?” Savoie said.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the center or its fundraising efforts for the new center can contact someone by email at louisianaboatbuilding@gmail.com or by calling Savoie at 985-691-1877.
