Flatboats
Flatboats were designed to carry cargo downstream, floating with the current. With flat bottoms, they were easily built to any size desired. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, they were a major method of transportation for settlers traveling west into Ohio, Kentucky, and other states, and were often called “Kentucky Boats.” These boats were usually dismantled on reaching their destination, and the wood was used to build the settlers' houses. Even into the late nineteenth century, farmers built this type of boat to take their produce to market down-river. When the produce was sold, they sold the boat for its lumber and walked home or took steamboat passage back upriver.
This replica was built in 1975 and rebuilt in 1996. It is based on the flatboat used to bring the Ohio Company settlers to Marietta in 1788.
Courtesy hmdb.org
