Uncover the currents of memory
The water carries stories—of resilience, loss, and survival, of those who live at its edges. Like the river, we are shaped by what we carry.
Recent Quick Dispatches
Short dispatches from the river and beyond
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Wires, switches, and the magic in between
Electrical pleasures. There’s something satisfying about making sparks flow the right direction. Cockpit panels cut and painted, switches installed, plugs soldered, lights tested. We even got our running lights lit so we can legally (and safely) be dumb enough to float after dark. Every switch was a chance to dream—Mood Stabilizer, Rat Deter, Eel Mode.…
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Every River Has a Story. Tell Us Yours.
Peoples River Stories is a participatory new media project, a web-based map where anyone can drop a pin and share a memory, confession, observation, dream, or historical fragment about a river they know. It expands the world of Secret History beyond our shantyboat and beyond U.S. borders—inviting people everywhere to claim space for their own…
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I built a DIY shantyboat, floated 2,400 river-miles collecting river stories—heading to Louisiana bayous next. AMA!
This Monday May 5, 2025 after noon, we’re gonna be hanging out on Reddit. Hey Reddit—I’m Wes Modes (he/they). I spend my summers on a 20-foot shantyboat I built from scrapyard lumber and questionable decisions. With me today are my longtime shipmates Jeremiah (ship’s bo’sun and master of camp coffee), James (English-born pixel-wrangler who can…
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We just lit the fuse.
It’s getting real. We just launched our spring Kickstarter. We need you on board. The arts are under attack, and projects like ours—focused on memory, justice, and stories from the margins—are in the crosshairs. Grants we’ve counted on for years have vanished. So now we’re turning to our community. To you. Over time, I’ve gotten…
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Sometimes you open a hatch and find a whole civilization.
This week’s adventure started with one of those innocent “hey, let’s check that” moments. We opened the forward locker where we store life vests—and accidentally disturbed a long-standing treaty with several insect nations. We didn’t set out to launch an eviction, but when the sawdust starts falling and the structural integrity looks questionable, it’s time…
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From Chaos, Shelves
The loft has been a shameful mess for, oh, about a decade. We finally did something about it. What started with a cardboard prototype turned into a full-on build—panel glue-ups from pallet wood, rusty vinegar stain, some sketchy lofting techniques, and boom: a custom shelf unit with a secret drawer and a little bit of…
Step Aboard and Drift into the Story
What stories does the river hold? Who calls it home? How do we navigate change, memory, and belonging on the water? Step aboard our floating archive and explore the histories, people, and places that make up this journey.
Recent Field Reports
Longer reports from the field
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Every River Has a Story. Tell Us Yours.
Peoples River Stories is a participatory new media project, a web-based map where anyone can drop a pin and share a memory, confession, observation, dream, or historical fragment about a river they know. It expands the world of Secret History beyond our shantyboat and beyond U.S. borders—inviting people everywhere to claim space for their own…
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Shantyboat Dotty Fleeing Fires
During the California fires we had to flee our home with the Shantyboat Dotty in tow. We made safe camp in a field with neighbors where we created a temporary compound for four adults, one toddler, two dogs, and two kittens.
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The Seven Wonders of Portsmouth
Post by honorary shipmate Andrew Feight Shanty Dotty on the Ohio, tied up at the Anchor Pad in Portsmouth, Ohio (18 July 2019). Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting for an interview with Wes Modes. Funded with a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, Wes and his two shipmates (production assistants) are…
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Secret History at Santa Cruz Ebb & Flow
Thanks to friends who hung out with us and sent us photos of the shantyboat at Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival at the Tannery in Santa Cruz. Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival is a celebration of our local San Lorenzo River and brings together artists from all over the county. The work of…
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Less terror: The shantyboat is fitted for a new winch post
The Shantyboat takes a field trip down to Watsonville to be fitted for a new winch post. In the meantime the old one is cut off, and the shantyboat is secured by a janky system of ratchet straps. Roy Large of Large’s Fabrication made us a new winch post for the trailer and fixed the…
Follow the River to Its Deeper Currents
What draws us back to the river, year after year? How does the project challenge dominant history? How do river communities respond to change? Explore the deeper ideas that shape our journey.
Meet Our Interviewees
Conversations with people who live and work on the river
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Remembering Betty Goins
Remembering Betty Goins who passed away yesterday. We had the immense pleasure to interview Betty in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016.
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On a beautiful sunny morning, I interviewed Paul Hassfurder
On a beautiful sunny morning this week after a day and night of thundershowers, I felt honored to interviewed Paul Hassfurder who lives at Payne Hollow. Paul worked with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard at the house for nearly a decade before his death in 1988 at age 88. Paul talked to me about Harlan…
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Interviewing Paul Hassfurder at Payne Hollow surrounded by butterflies
Interviewing Paul Hassfurder at Payne Hollow surrounded by butterflies. #ohioriver #paynehollow #interview #harlanhubbard #harlanandannahubbard #butterfly
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Good homes will be furnished these helpless children
While we were in new Richmond, Ohio, I interviewed Beth Dearwester who told me about several generations of her family who lived aboard a shantyboat in a shantytown at the mouth of Mill Creek in Cincinnati and were considered disreputable riffraff, occasionally charged with fighting, petty theft, and “loitering.” It was common place for children…
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The Seven Wonders of Portsmouth
Post by honorary shipmate Andrew Feight Shanty Dotty on the Ohio, tied up at the Anchor Pad in Portsmouth, Ohio (18 July 2019). Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting for an interview with Wes Modes. Funded with a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, Wes and his two shipmates (production assistants) are…
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The sprawling discussion with Andrew Feight, professor of history at Shawnee State
I had a chance to interview Andrew Feight, professor of history at Shawnee State University. We had a sprawling discussion about the nature of history, who gets to tell it, and whose history gets told. We also talked about Portsmouth history, its role in the Underground Railroad, labor history, and integration, the Shawnee people who…
Trace the Currents of Our Journey
Where did we go? What did we find along the way? Explore interactive maps from our river expeditions and road trips, with every dispatch mapped along the route.
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