Museum of the Southeast American Indian at UNCP to host talk on 1,100-year-old canoe exhibit

PEMBROKE – The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at UNC Pembroke will host a discussion on the 1,100-year-old canoe that has been part of the museum’s permanent collection for nearly 40 years.

A lunch and learn will be held on Wednesday, October 25, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The discussion will be led by canoe discoverer Paul Valenti and Professor Emeritus Dr. Linda Oxendine, former chair of the American Indians Studies Department. They will discuss the discovery, restoration and the canoe’s historical significance to the area.

In 1984, Valenti, a local historian and diver, discovered the 16-foot dugout yellow pine canoe in the Lumber River near McNeill’s Bridge. Radiocarbon tests date it around 930 A.D. After restoration efforts, the canoe became part of the museum’s collection.

“For almost 40 years, the Lumbee River canoe has shared part of its story with thousands of visitors to the Museum of the Southeast American Indian,” said Nancy Fields, museum director and curator. “Students of all ages have marveled at how the canoe was created using fire to hollow out the canoe, the narrowness of its construction––wide enough for ancient Indian warriors to stand and paddle the black waters of the Lumbee River.

“The physical presence imparts a great deal of information, but its physical presence is also shrouded with mystery about who owned the canoe, where it traveled and what it experienced. For decades, visitors have pondered the life of the canoe. By doing so, they have traveled back in time to the banks of the Lumbee River and imagined a distant people whose ancestors continue to live.”