The Story of Pierre Paudeau and the Paris Pond Yachts and Paris Pond Boats!

Long before we began making our beloved Tippecanoe Boats, the famous Paris pond yachts sailed across the sailing ponds in Paris, France. In 1922, Pierre Paudeau's father, Clement Paudeau, began the family business with a wooden boat shop in Rue Visconti. The Paudeau family acquired the rights from the French Senate to rent model sailing boats in Paris. Pierre took over the shop from his father in 1929 and, in 1972, moved the shop to Rue Claude-Bernard and began selling and renting wooden model sailboats in the Jardin de Luxembourg.

paris pond boats

The Jardin de Luxembourg is directly in front of the Luxembourg Palace. Two years after King Henry IV was murdered in 1610, his son, Louis XIII, became king when he was only 9 years old with Henry's wife, Marie de Medicis as Regent and Cardinal Richelieu as Chief Minister. During this turbulent time, Marie commissioned the Luxembourg Palace and gardens to be built in 1612. The Luxembourg Palace and its beautiful gardens were then constructed in the years 1615-1627. In 1612, work began on an aquaduct completed in 1624, when the Jardin de Luxembourg pond was first filled. History does not tell us when the first pond boat was launched in this now famous Paris sailing pond.

Today, the gardens of Luxembourg make up the largest park in Paris, France. The French Senate meets in the Luxembourg Palace and the senators enjoy going outside to watch the Paris pond boats sailing on the pond. Children still rent model boats to sail on the pond from a wooden model sailboat cart just like Pierre Paudeau's.

Several more sailing ponds located in Paris are in the Jardin de Tuileries in the Tuileries garden. While the Luxembourg gardens make up the largest park in Paris, the Tuileries garden is the most central. The Jardin de Tuileries sailing ponds are located just in front of the Louvre palace at one end of the Tuileries garden. The garden is one long strip stretching from the Louvre museum to the Concorde Square along the Seine river. The garden was designed by Le Notre in 1664 under King Louis the 14th and was added to by many subsequent kings of France, with the intent to improve the Louvre Palace and the city of Paris. The image of the beautiful Paris pond yachts sailing across the tranquil waters of these lovely ponds has become one of the fondest memories for hundreds of thousands of visitors to Paris.

Whether you're at the Jardin de Luxembourg pond or the Jardin de Tuileries ponds, you're sure to see skippers - young and old - sailing classic handmade wooden Paris pond yachts on the water. The famous Paris pond yachts were an inspiration for our own, handmade wooden model sailboats here at Tippecanoe Boats. The famous Paris ponds were also the inspiration for Frederick Law Olmsted when he was designing Central Park in New York City in the late 19th century. The city ran out of money for the plant conservatory that was planned as part of the park but the foundation had already been laid. Olmsted had recently been to Paris and had been fascinated by the sailing ponds in Paris so he turned the foundation of the conservatory into a sailing pond that has been one of the central attractions of Central Park ever since. You'll see many Tippecanoe boats racing across the pond now called Conservatory Water in Central Park and you'll find several Tippecanoe boats proudly stored inside the boat house at Conservatory Water.

paris pond boat