Mississippi River Shanty Boats

Shanty boats were a popular form of housing in the region from the 1850 s to the 1950 s.

Mississippi river shanty boats.

There is something so magical about them. There is a long forgotten history in america of people living in homemade shantyboats a reasonable and cost free solution for displaced people in rural areas and workers in urban areas. Imagine then my recent excitement when learning a bit more about the history of shanty boats and river people in general. During that time about 50 000 people called the ohio and mississippi rivers home.

We celebrate living on the water affordably. Perhaps it is a held over fascination with tom sawyer tales from the mississippi. In july we are bringing the shantyboat across country to launch in the mississippi river on an art and history expedition. A shantyboat is a small crude houseboat also called a flatboat broadhorn barge scow or ark.

Shanty boats were popular in the region from the 1850 s to the 1950 s. Shanty boaters on the ohio and mississippi rivers have been part of the american south s story for decades living along the edge of its many rivers and experiencing the trade and travel that. But it cannot be denied that shanty boats are no less tiny houses than anything else. Shantyboat is the story of a leisurely journey down the ohio and mississippi rivers to new orleans.

In the fall of 1944 they built a houseboat small but neatly accommodated to their needs on the bank of the ohio near cincinnati and in it after a pause of two. North mississippi nms okaloosa walton vps panama city fl pfn pensacola fl pns shreveport la shv southwest ms hez texarkana txk tuscaloosa tsc tyler east tx etx show 34 more. Thanks to espressobuzz for the historic photo a journey to rediscover the lost narratives of river people river communities and the river itself.