Woods Hole Gets Its Own Totem Pole

The village of Woods Hole has a unique addition: a totem pole. Located at 23 Buzzards Bay Avenue, the new structure is the result of a senior project by alumni Ben Bianchini, a Woods Hole resident.

Totem poles originated on the Pacific Northwest coast in the 18th century by the natives there. They were used for various purposes, such as marking graves, telling stories, and protecting and honoring settlements.

“I wanted this to be a community piece, to be a part of me and my community of Woods Hole,” Bianchini said at a talk at the Monday. “(Woods Hole) is very dear to my heart and that was a big part of traditional carving totem poles—they were about your land and where you lived, and I tried to make that as much a part of my process as possible.”

Carving can be a difficult task, and Bianchini’s 10 ½ ft. project proved a daunting one. Over the course of three months, Bianchini spent many hours in the Sugar Shack on School Street, a community building that is often used for projects. There, equipped with his Eastern red cedar and carving tools, he faced many challenges, one of which was the tree itself.

“The most important part of carving a totem pole is the tree, and the tree most commonly used is the Western red cedar,” said Bianchini.

Being on the East Coast, however, Bianchini was limited to using the Eastern red cedar.

“It has a lot more knots and is a harder wood to work with because it doesn’t have the natural oils that the western red cedar does,” he explained. “You can’t get rid of the knots without chainsaws and power-sanders, but I didn’t want to use any of that. I wanted to go to as much to the core of the true carving as possible.”

Bianchini tried to honor the true spirit and technique of carving a totem pole by staying away from modern power tools.

“The tool I used for my carving (was) a small hand axe, which was good for getting rid of a lot of rot and doing larger pieces. For the fine tuning I used a sharpened pocket knife and chisels,” he said.

Despite the obstacles faced in the carving process, Bianchini’s diligence and optimism kept him going.

“You don’t decide what you’re going to carve," he said. "This piece is really already there and you’re just making it stand out. That’s how I looked at carving.

“It’s a process that takes time and you really have to be patient about it,” Bianchini continued. “ It really changed my mindset on a lot of things. It helped me with patience, tranquility and seeing things as they should be seen rather than the frenzied hurriedness of how we tend to go though life.”