Shoalts does "history with his boots on," and researches Canadian history by exploring it in the forests, fields, and wilderness of Canada. He is a member of the Ontario Archaeological Society, and has won many awards for his historical work, including the Niagara Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America's award in Classical History and Archaeology at Brock University . The Business Education Council of Niagara hired him to write a history of the Niagara Peninsula and in 2010 his paper on Canadian explorers was named the winner of the Friends of E.M. Wightman Essay prize by McMaster University. In 2011, he and his father built a traditional birch bark canoe for a museum.

Exploring for history, artifacts, and relics is just another facet of a modern day explorer's career. Moreover, Shoalts relies on archival research and historical expertise when planning and devising his expeditions.

Exploring the Past

is an Adventure....

In May 2007, while on an expedition to explore small uninhabited islands off the coast of Prince Edward Island, Shoalts and his expedition partner, Dave Tucker, discovered the ruins of a 19th century shipwreck that had washed ashore in a recent storm. Read more about their expedition here...Shoalts displays a stone projectile point he uncovered.

"History with

His Boots on."

Exploring some ruins in the Canadian backwoods, summer 2010. (Photo by B. Dennis.)

A projectile point that Shoalts uncovered in southern Ontario. (Photo by B. Dennis.)

Agricultural ruins, discovered by Shoalts in the thick undergrowth of the Wainfleet Bog; an ecologically sensitive area home to many endangered species, including the Massasauga Rattlesnake, but historically the site of peat farming.(Photo by A. Shoalts.) The finished product: a birch bark canoe constructed of all traditional materials by Adam Shoalts and his father Mark for the museum at Old Fort Erie National Historic Site. Shoalts believes that in order to understand the past--explorers, the fur trade, voyageurs, etc.--you have to experience it and recreate it. Read the full story of his canoe construction at Canadian Geographic.