Model wooden boat builder Frank White at work, 2012.
Model wooden boat builder Frank White at work, 2012.
Model wooden boat builder Frank White at work, 2012.
Model wooden boat builder Frank White at work, 2012.
Frank White shows one of his model boats, 2012.
Frank White shows one of his model boats, 2012.
Model wooden boat by Frank White, 2012.
Model wooden boat builder Frank White at work. Date and photographer unknown.
Model wooden boat interior with paddles by Frank White, 2012.
Frank White shows one of his model boats, 2012.
Model wooden boat by Frank White, 2012.
Frank White shows one of his model boats, 2012.
Frank White's model of a Rushton Ugo Canoe, 1885, owned by Atwood Manley (Canton, NY). Frank built this model in 1995, Rushtons being his favorites among the wide variety of model boats he has built.
Beulah and Frank White at Wapanocca Lake in Memphis, TN in July, 1974. Photo by Howard Montague, 1974.
Frank and son Gary White paddling a 60-year-old canoe in the Rushton Canoe Race in May, 1971. Photo by Dwight Church, 1971.
Beulah and Frank White paddling at Sylman Falls, 1971. Photographer unknown.
Frank White at his floral shop, before he retired and took up model boat-making. Date and photographer unknown.
Frank White paddling on the Grasse River, May 8th, 1968. Photographer unknown.
Frank White at Doris Remis' School of Floral Design. Date and photographer unknown.
Frank White says he's spent his whole life outdoors, whether hiking, fishing, or diving in to his next adventure on the waterways. Date and photographer unknown.
Frank White's passion for canoes and paddling has fueled his own extensive adventures on rivers big and small in the U.S. and Canada, as well as his wooden model boat-building and his helping found Canton, NY's annual Rushton Canoe Races. 1942, photographer unknown.
Frank White ready to paddle the full-sized model, 2012.

Canton, St. Lawrence County
Model Wooden Boat Builder

This profile is possible thanks to an underwriting gift from The Canton Rotary Club.

94 years old at the time of receiving this award in 2012, Frank White grew up hearing stories of logging camps and river drives from his French-Canadian grandfathers. He says he’s spent his whole life outdoors–hiking, fishing, and paddling local lakes and streams. His passion for canoes has taken him on solo trips on major rivers in the American West and the Canadian bush. He was one of the founders of the annual Rushton Canoe Races in Canton (begun in 1962), where he’s competed almost every year of their fifty-plus years. After retiring from a career as a florist in 1984, he took up model making, starting with kits of such famous vessels as the USS Constitution and the racing schooner Blue Nose. Later he began to build from scratch and has created a remarkable variety since, among them whaleboats, Lake Champlain sailing barges, a catboat, a Venetian gondola, and several canoes (including a Peterborough and a birch bark). His favorites, however, are his own versions of Rushton canoes, of which he’s completed a half dozen.

Click here to hear Todd Moe’s interview with Frank on North Country Public Radio.

  • Award Inherited Traditions
  • Award Year 2012
  • Location Canton, NY (St. Lawrence County, St. Lawrence River Valley)
  • Categories Woods & Water