Braintanning Workshop: No Loose Braids & Oketeau Cultural Center

The Wayside Inn Foundation (TWIF) oversaw, in conjunction with No Loose Braids (NLB) and Ockway Bay Wampum (OBW), the building of a mishoon on the east side of its property.

A mishoon is a canoe made from a fresh pine log shaped through a process of monitored burning, using Indigenous techniques that span millennia. The burning process can take 7-10 days or longer, depending on the size of the pine tree used for the canoe.

The building of the mishoon was monitored and managed by Andre "Strong Bear Heart" Gaines, Jr., Nipmuc, Hartman Deetz, Wampanoag, and a team of Indigenous apprentices to ensure the continuation of the mishoon-making tradition over the next seven generations.

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