- Date
- 2001-03
- Kind
- Publication
- Where
- Beaver Island
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- craftheritagetourismeconomycommunication
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The March 2001 Beacon profiled Bill Freese as a Beaver Island custom canoe builder and maker of wooden buckets, paddles, and other objects. The profile connects his island workshop and visitor appeal with a craft practice rooted in woodworking and boatbuilding. A 2023 sale notice provides a later, specific example attributed to him: an 18-foot cherry canoe, reportedly made for Roy Ellsworth from Beaver Island wood. That description remains seller-reported, not a separately documented provenance record.
Evidence limits
This is a newspaper profile, not a catalog of Freese’s work, business ledger, or independent biographical record.
Sources
- A seller advertised an 18-foot cherry canoe attributed to Freese, said it used Beaver Island wood, took more than 300 hours, and included inlays and two paddles. This seller report enriches the documented example but does not independently verify authorship, materials, hours, ownership chain, or sale.forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 15 · t015234
- The profile describes Freese as a custom cherry-wood canoe builder who also makes buckets, paddles, and other wooden objects, and says he came to Beaver Island through a Mackinaw sailboat race. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2001-03_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue scan confirms the craftsman profile.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2001-03_Beaver-Beacon
- A sale notice attributed an 18-foot cherry canoe to Freese and described it as made for island resident Roy Ellsworth from Beaver Island wood, taking more than 300 hours. These provenance and material claims come from a seller’s advertisement and are not independently verified here.forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 17 · t017746
Added 5 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “The Beaver Beacon profiles canoe builder and craftsman Bill Freese in 2001”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/bill-freese-beaver-island-canoe-builder-profile-2001/, accessed [date], citing Mary Rose, “18 FT Cherry Canoe made by Master Builder Bill Freese for Sale,” Beaver Island Forum, May 27, 2020. (and 3 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
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