Silver Heel was built in 1902 as a five-log canoe, so called because she was fashioned from five logs lashed together into a boat thirty-three feet long with two main masts and other small sails. During her long life, she has gone from sails to engine power and back to sails. She has gone from being a working boat of the type developed on the Chesapeake Bay by its watermen to fame as a racing sailboat after being acquired by Mr. Hewes in 1961.
Mr. Hewes will talk about how he oversaw Silver Heel’s transformation to racing competitor with other log canoes. Under his ownership, her masts were heightened and her sails enlarged. Today she requires a 10-person crew for sailing races.
Silver Heel is one of 22 log canoes recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Proudly, she has always been a Kent County boat.
Silver Heel’s early life is featured in a window display at the Bordley History Center, along with the original watercolor of her as the racing “Well-Heeled Silver Heel” by Marc Castelli, on loan from Briggs and Sue Cunningham.
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