Special thanks to Lawrence Brown of the Cape Cod Times for visiting our boatbuilding program and capturing the experience. Photographs by Lawrence Brown and Sue Lonergan. You can read the full published article here.

We were thrilled to welcome Cape Cod Times columnist Lawrence Brown to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum recently. He spent the morning observing our Youth Boatbuilding Program in action. His thoughtful write-up captured the energy and purpose of what we aim to create here in the museum’s boat shop: a space where local kids can learn hands-on skills, connect with maritime traditions, and build something real—from start to finish.

Our Youth Boatbuilding Program, run in partnership with the Barnstable Recreation Department, has been a staple of our spring and fall seasons since 2012. Over the course of 10 to 12 weeks, middle school students meet once a week in our waterfront workshop, learning traditional woodworking skills as they build a 12-foot wooden Bevin’s Skiff—a classic skiff design known for its simplicity and strength.

The Bevin’s Skiff has an incredible story behind it. Originally designed in a Chesapeake Bay boat shop in 1997 — named after the boatyard dog, Bevin — this skiff has become a popular project for nationwide boatbuilding programs. There’s even a sailing version of the design, though that one takes twice as long to build. Our program focuses on mastering basic woodworking skills, teamwork, and seeing a project through from start to finish.

As Lawrence Brown observed, there’s something special about watching the kids and their adult mentors work together in the boat shop, lining up a stringer of wood along the hull, double-checking measurements before making a final cut. Some students arrive already familiar with woodworking, while others are experiencing it for the first time — but all of them leave with new skills and the pride of building something tangible with their own hands.

In his piece, Brown reflected on the value of this kind of experience for today’s kids: “Projects like this give kids an extended time away from their cell phones to actually do something with their hands. Instead of experiencing the world through a tiny screen… this is time spent in the honest-to-God, real world where everything is actual size, has heft to it, and — by a child's agency alone — can become an actual real thing.”

The final reward for all their hard work comes on launch day, when the students climb into the very boat they built and row it out across the harbor—a moment of pride that stays with them long after the program ends.

As our Executive Director, Sue Lonergan, shared, “We’re trying to offer young Cape Codders opportunity to embrace the world around them… to get out on the water, to open the whole maritime world to them. It’s just odd for so many kids to live on Cape Cod and be landlocked.”

We’re proud to continue offering this program as part of our mission to connect our community—especially our youth—to Cape Cod’s rich maritime heritage. Whether it’s learning to measure, cut, and build in the boat shop or experiencing the joy of being out on the water, this program reminds us why maritime skills and traditions still matter.

For more information about the Youth Boatbuilding Program or our other educational offerings, visit capecodmaritimemuseum.org.