The remarkable life and legacy of an extraordinary man whose influence echoes through time.

Tappan Adney travelled from New York to New Brunswick for a summer holiday at the age of 19 in 1887, and it changed the course of his life.

Adney is best known for a singular achievement. He was the artist, writer, and illustrator whose chance encounter with Peter Jo, a Wəlastəkwi Elder–craftsman, led to a passionate, lifelong interest in the birchbark canoe and Wəlastəkwey culture.

But that is only part of the story. Throughout his life, little escaped Adney’s curiosity. From his extensive documentation of the design of Indigenous canoes to his reportage on the Klondike Gold Rush; from his work as an illustrator, photographer, and designer to his natural history journalism; from his activism for Indigenous rights to his documentation of the Wəlastəkwey language, Adney’s mind roamed from one passion to another, leaving behind a treasure trove of natural history and ethnographic research. This book tells the intriguing story of his remarkable life and his multifaceted legacy.

C. Ted Behne’s interest in Tappan Adney began when he attended a birchbark canoe-building class. After 30 years of working as a writer and editor, he agreed to take on the task of completing Wheaton’s book on Tappan Adney. His articles on the birchbark canoe and Tappan Adney appeared in Native Peoples Magazine, Prairies North, and Wooden Boat Magazine, and he edited The Travel Journals of Tappan Adney Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

C. Ted Behne's profile page

James W. Wheaton’s interest in Tappan Adney began with Wheaton’s wife, Joan Adney Dragon, the granddaughter of Tappan Adney. He completed the first draft of the Adney biography before passing it on to Ted Behne. Although an electrical engineer by trade, his passion for genealogy, history, and writing led to him serving as president of the Hingham Historical Society (Hingham, MA). His transcription and annotation of the letters and journals of Dr. Charles Brackett — a distant relative —— was published as Surgeon on Horseback.

James W. Wheaton's profile page

Keith Helmuth is the publisher and managing editor of Chapel Street Editions. He is the author of Tracking Down Ecological Guidance and Tappan Adney and the Heritage of the St. John River Valley. He lives in Woodstock, New Brunswick.

Keith Helmuth's profile page

“I’m delighted to hear that the Adney biography is reaching publication, news that is as promising and welcome as it is overdue.”

John McPhee, author of <i>The Survival of the Bark Canoe</i>, quoted with permission from correspondence with Keith Helmuth

“Tappan Adney was a frequent visitor to our home on the reserve. He came to talk with my father, Peter Paul, and learn our language. Here is the Tappan Adney we did not know as children — he was no ordinary man and what he accomplished throughout the years with Indigenous people was amazing.”

Carole Polchies, Wəlastəkwi Elder

“A superbly humanizing portrait of a famous New Brunswicker that took me well beyond where I expected to go as a reader — from the nineteenth-century apple wars to the Yukon River, tense family dynamics, and the halls of toxic academia. At the core of this biography is the transformative education that Adney received from Wəlastəkokewiyik and the profound effects of that education on his life and work. We can learn a great deal from his successes and his failures.”

Rachel Bryant, author of <i>The Homing Place: Indigenous and Settler Literary Legacies of the Atlantic</i>

“Tappan Adney and the canoe are New Brunswick icons. Here, we see Adney as a Renaissance man able to move between worlds, from New York City to the settlements of Indigenous people, whose culture and rights he championed. The authors ensure he will not be forgotten.”

Mark Bourrie, author of <i>Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia</i>

“Tappan Adney is acknowledged as the foremost canoe scholar of all time. Now the rest of his extraordinary life is told in this superb and comprehensive biography. It details his remarkable accomplishments in a wide range of pursuits: canoe building, art, ornithology, heraldry, and the study of Indigenous culture and language.”

John Jennings, author of <i>Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney</i>