Free Republic

OLD TOWN — Thousands of brass tacks, hammered by hand, scatter light across the glossy, cedar-planked hull of a 17-foot canoe, cradled on sawhorses in the Old Town Canoe Co. wood shop. That's the way they've built canoes here for a century. Upstairs, workers install seats in 12-foot kayaks made from PolyLink3, a patented composite that sandwiches flotation foam between two layers of strong plastic. That's how modern boats are made. The past and future intermingle here at Old Town Canoe, the country's largest canoe and kayak maker. This summer has been a time to reflect on that heritage, as...

Cuban President Fidel Castro, left, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wave to a crowd while touring Canaima National Park in eastern Venezuela in a canoe in this Aug. 12, 2001 file photo. Chavez, the former army paratrooper who polarized Venezuela with his strongarm rule and whose friendship with Cuba and Iraq irritated the United States, resigned under military pressure Friday, April 12, 2002 after a massive opposition demonstration ended in a bloodbath. (AP Photo/HO, Miraflores Presidential Palace, Egilda Gomez)