Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Volume 118 / Number 4
The Shenandoah River Gundalow: Reusable Boats in Virginia's
Nineteenth-Century River Trade - Seth C. Bruggeman, pp. 314–49
Amid a burgeoning wheat economy, entrepreneurial Virginians
organized the New Shenandoah Company in 1814 to ensure a
reliable river trade throughout the Shenandoah River Valley.
Farmers and boatmen risked dangerous journeys along the
turbulent Shenandoah for an opportunity to access the wealth of
eastern markets. At the center of this system was a cheap,
disposable boat known locally as a "gundalow." Thousands of
gundalows traveled from such towns as Port Republic to Harpers
Ferry, where they were broken down and sold as scrap lumber.
Consequently, gundalow lumber found its way into buildings along
the river, including some that still stand today. Although the
gundalow's impermanence has long obscured its place in Valley
history, this essay suggests that historians stand to benefit
from reconstructing the unusual life of thi