1820 Flatboat
To view our TAM entry of the Flatboat Exhibit in the Awards section, click here. A River Runs Through It
Built with a Texas Humantities Grant, the 1820 Flatboat exhibit is a 11 by 30 foot flatboat constructed in the main floor gallery. Built as a result of data driven interests, we expanded our exhibits to include it and other types of early boats that traveled on the Neches River in the 19th Century. The boat was constructed to strict 1820 materials and contents, representing what it was like to travel by flatboat in Southeast Texas. The boat is constructed of local cypress boards as they would have been in 1820. While we utilized 21st Century construction and passed all construction codes for safety and handicap accessibility, the visible layer of the boat utilized every aspect of original construction. Examples are the use of square nails, local moss to plug leaks between the boards, a log bed, a hand auger to create pegs for construction, hand-tooled cypress wood, a covered section along with an open section with hand made ladder access to rooftop area for the men to "pole" down the river. A life-size frontiersman sits on the roof, holding a cypress pole as he navigates the river. A large mural of the Neches River covers the wall behind the flatboat, adding to the illusion of travel.
The boat has 3 sides accessible to view from the ground level and is built into an existing ramp in the Ice House to allow people to walk up the ramp and come aboard the boat where they can walk through the sleeping quarters, the cooking quarters, view tools and implements on the boat and walk out on the deck overlooking the museum.
