Telliko Canoe Society

03/15/2026

Great art by Olivia Sunshine and Tahlequah Creates displayed at the Telliko Canoe Society meet and greet!

03/15/2026

Wado to everyone braving the bad weather to come check out the dugout canoe!
It means a lot that so many came through the rain and wind.
We will be doing another event similar here and soon and hopefully with better weather.
Wado again to Olivia Sunshine, and her family for bringing beautiful art, and to C.s. Espi and Jake Ingle for playing some great music!

03/06/2026

Got the canoe clayed up and burning. Great progress on the cypress Yuchi-style canoe.
Thanks to the Yuchi Language Project for allowing me to be apart of this.
Dugout canoes have been apart of us native people since we first existed. They where our connection to the whole world.

02/18/2026

Siyo!
Alot of good work being done on the cypress dugout canoe at the Yuchi Language Project.
Amazing school and farm with lots of opportunities for their students to be involved in cultural activities.
Helping the Yuchi build back their canoe traditions is a huge honor and they are very kind and generous when we're there.
Wado! Will be posting more as canoe progresses!

02/04/2026

Heres the written article about our interview with The Cherokee Phoenix! We're so appreciative of the way they allowed us to share our mission. Give it a read. Wado!

Telliko Canoe Society aims to promote and educate people on the Cherokee traditional craft of dugout canoe making.

02/04/2026

We are grateful to the Cherokee Phoenix for letting us share some knowledge and do some demonstration about our goals in revitalizing Cherokee Canoe Culture here in Tahlequah!
Give it a listen.

01/15/2026

Siyo!
Got great work done on the canoe with the help of a new adze and good friends. Thanks to Jake Ingles for coming help swing for a bit. Almost getting wide enough to sit in.
Much faster than burning with fire but I assume the old ones weren't swinging and working as hard to do the same work.
There's an account of a native man in New England in the colonial era making a canoe in only 10 days with an axe and fire, we only hope to be as skilled one day.
Wado for watching nigad 🙏🏽

01/14/2026

Cool find, I'm sure it has been resting there ever since it was sunk for the winter.
During the cold winter months when water activity was low, dugout canoes where sunk to the bottom of waterways and tethered up to prevent damage from the accumulative effects of being half submerged in freezing conditions. The submersion in temperature-stable waters under the surface will protect the log until springtime fishing resumes. Years ago this boat was probably sunk for the winter and never recovered. Who knows why.
Archaeology is fascinating especially when I viewed through a cultural lense.

A 1,000-year-old Waccamaw Indian dug-out canoe was pulled from Lake Waccamaw near Wilmington Wednesday.