WELCOME TO THE BARBEY MARITIME CENTER presenting classes in wooden boat building and courses in traditional maritime crafts

The Columbia River Maritime Museum is very pleased to offer courses at the Barbey Maritime Center. They are drawn from both Western and Native American maritime cultures and are suitable for a wide variety of interests and skill levels.

The mission of the Columbia River Maritime Museum is to collect and preserve historical and cultural maritime material relevant to the Columbia River System and the waters of the North Pacific, and to display and interpret selected material from the collections for the education and enjoyment of the public. While it is important to preserve and interpret material culture, it is also important to preserve the processes by which this material culture is created and used. This is best done hand-to-hand, generation to generation.

Classes will be small, and each student will have the opportunity to interact with instructors who have been chosen for their expertise and ability. See our currrent list of course offerings.

You will go away from these courses with the knowledge and confidence that you can create things out of wood, metal, or rope, even if you never build an entire boat, have no particular need for a beautiful rope-stropped wood block, a hand-made fishing net, a bentwood box, or a cast bronze oarlock. We hope your curiosity will be whetted, and most of all, that you will have an entertaining and enriching experience.

Sam Johnson
Executive Director