by Nikki Rajala | Nov 6, 2024 | Voyageur
A good idea always moves. Point blankets were used for more than sleeping by French-Canadian fur traders. To cope with being outdoors in the harsh winters, voyageurs fashioned a wool point blanket into long wrap-style coat with a hood by cutting off one end (for...
by Nikki Rajala | Jun 8, 2024 | Voyageur
When you visit historic sites — rendezvous posts where fur was traded — you can go back in time. All summer long, you can experience voyageurs’ lives with re-enactors sharing their skills. Enjoy period music, folk dancing, demonstrations of musketry and...
by Nikki Rajala | Jun 2, 2022 | Voyageur
Until a few hundred years ago, all purchases were cash-only. You couldn’t take home that horse (or beaver hat or pair of silver shoe buckles) if you didn’t have enough coins — or barter-able goods. That system of commerce prevailed all over the world.,...
by Nikki Rajala | Jan 19, 2021 | Featured
Did you like reading the story of the Flying Canoe? Here’s the backstory: In print, the tale of the Flying Canoe, La Chasse Galerie dates back to 1891 but it was an old tale then and told across Canada.Some sources date it to Europe, and other versions have...
by Nikki Rajala | Jan 12, 2021 | Featured
What’s better on a cold night than to get cozy and hear an old story?. Here is a popular French-Canadian story — the tale of the Flying Canoe. (also known as La Chasse Galerie, The Bewitched Canoe and The Wild Hunt.) It’s New Year’s Eve at a far-flung...
