Whitefish Point, Michigan: The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
    
On a recent trip through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula I made a charming discovery and would like to share that ‘find’ with you. For history buffs the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum provides a splendid stop during summer or fall travels. The museum offers a riveting wealth of information for anyone interested in the lore of the lakes, the adventures of huge freighters or the ghosts of ships lost. With exhibits to make your skin tingle as you contemplate the danger of being crushed in a storm driven swell of water, the museum recognizes those that succumbed to the Great Lakes’ perils. The museum is fittingly located at Whitefish Point, Michigan, site of the oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior.

Shipwreck Museum Campus from the air. Photo by Chris Winters, Courtesy Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

   
Before making the trip to Whitefish Point I stopped in Sault Ste. Marie and met with Thomas Farnquist, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Farnquist shared information about the museum and the culmination of his pet project: retrieval of the bell from the sunken Edmund Fitzgerald.  In 1989 when the bell atop the Fitzgerald’s pilothouse was first captured by underwater video camera, Farnquist began plotting his salvage strategy. The realization of his dream took six years.
   
“The Legend Lives On,” Gordon Lightfoot sang in perhaps the greatest story-song ever written, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.’ The Shipwreck Museum helps keep the epic saga alive. The sinking of the Mighty Fitz is a poignant reminder that, even in modern times, man’s cunning and engineering skills may be no match for Superior when schizophrenic winds stir her anger.
   
The goal behind reclaiming the bell from the bones of the Fitzgerald (which lay more than 500 feet down in Superior’s inky waters seventeen miles from Whitefish Point) was to let it serve as a lasting memorial to the twenty-nine men who died in the chilling disaster of that wicked November night in 1975. But, the bell is a tribute not only to the men buried in the Fitzgerald’s watery grave, but to all those who have died at the whims of a great lake that ‘hangs tight to her dead.’

The Bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald. Photo by Chris Winters, courtesy Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

   
If Superior is notorious for treachery when the ‘winds of November come stealin,’ Whitefish Point boasts an equally grim reputation as the Shipwreck Coast of that violent lake. The 80-mile stretch of shoreline between Whitefish Point and Munising offers no natural harbors for wave-tossed vessels to put in when confronted by dangerous weather hazards including poor visibility from fog or flash snow squalls. Ships passing close to one another risk deadly collision.
    
Farnquist’s efforts may have taken six years but they ultimately proved successful and the bell is now prominently displayed and visitors can watch a movie about the Edmund Fitzgerald and the bell’s reclamation project in the museum’s theatre. 
   
The museum grounds house a light station commissioned by President Lincoln and first lit in 1849.  It is fully restored and still active today.  Walking through the Keeper’s Quarters and gazing out on the vast waters gives a sense of the haunting loneliness that surrounded the keeper and his family in the dead of winter – imagine short days, no human company and a landscape painted stark white. You will also be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of Superior’s beauty.

 Lighthouse and Captain's Quarters. Photo by Chris Winters, courtesy Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

   
Visit the United States Coast Guard Lifeboat Station and hear the story of the ghost of Three Fingers Wiley who wanders the beaches in the dead of night trying to find his missing digit.
   
If you want, you can even spend the night or two in one of the five themed rooms of the restored USCG Lifeboat Station’s Crews Quarters.  Each room has a queen size bed, private bath and TV/VCR, yet maintains the mystique of by-done days.  From the privacy of your room you can watch a video of Great Lakes history. The well-stocked library has several from which to choose. In the morning enjoy coffee and a continental breakfast in the kitchen or living room.
   
If you can juggle time in your schedule and if you enjoy outdoor photography (flowers, birds, landscapes, wildlife and close-ups) consider the one-day Nature Photography seminar taking place on the museum campus Saturday, September 26. To register call 800-635-1742. The class is limited to 15 participants and registrations will be accepted until Friday, September 25.
   
The Shipwreck Museum including the historic buildings, theatre (offering an underwater research exhibit featuring exciting artwork), and Shipwreck Coast Museum Store are open daily May 1 – October 31, 10 am to 6 pm. The U.S. Coast Guard Crews Quarters building is available for overnight stays April 15 – October 31. For more information, contact the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society at 888-492-3747 or check the web at www.shipwreckmuseum.com.

ulie Albrecht Royce, Travel Adventures Editor, is the author of Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast and Traveling Michigan's Thumb, both published by Thunder Bay Press. She writes a monthly column for Wandering Educators.

Feature photo: The U.S. Coast Guard Building at Whitefish Bay. Photo by Chris Winters, courtesy Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.