The Grand Traverse Heritage Center launched a new exhibit Saturday celebrating the Maritime Heritage of the Great Lakes State.
"Mysteries of the Lake: Lake Michigan Legends and Lore” will run at the center's museum through December 1 and includes a variety of lectures, history sails on the schooners Madeline and Inland Seas and tours of historic sites such as Leland's Fishtown.
Funded by a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, the exhibit covers maritime history from the Native Americans and voyageurs to the first sailing vessels and commercial shipping.
"The goal is to tell stories about maritime history on Lake Michigan, but not strictly from a historical standpoint but including folklore and legends,” said Dan Truckey, executive director of the Grand Traverse Heritage Society. "It was a lot of fun to put together.”
The Heritage Center hosted a family day outside to welcome the new exhibit, offering a variety of hands-on, maritime-related activities for children. A Songwriters in the Round concert at
Hannah Park featuring maritime music rounded out the event, which drew 25 people throughout the day.
Truckey tapped the Maritime Heritage Alliance for help, as well as individuals including Steve Harold, who has written two books on maritime history, Laura Quackenbush, curator of the Leelanau Historical Museum, and author Kathy Firestone of Northport.
"For the 9,900 years that man has lived in the area, the only easy method of transportation was the water, so it's been an integral part of our history, including the European history,” said Steve Harold, president of Grand Traverse Heritage Center Board and director of the Manistee County Historical Museum.
Local filmmaker and avid maritime historian Rich Brauer allowed his 1988 film "The Wreck and Rescue of the Schooner J. H. Hartzell” to be shown at the exhibit, where it runs throughout the day. In addition, the model of the schooner used to make the film is on display in the main area of the exhibit.
Some objects included in the exhibit, such as running lights, a sextant and navigation book, capstars, a foghorn, a message box and canister and a Coast Guard uniform, were loaned to the exhibit by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Also on display is a Jack Browne diving suit dating to the 1930s when it was used during the search for the wreck of the Westmorland off of Point Betsie.
Behind each item, rests a story that illustrates a facet of maritime history.
"Just the individual stories were fascinating, maritime history has a lot of mythology in it — there's something about lakes that create a lot of stories and fascination with it,” said Truckey.
The exhibit also includes information on the first sailing ship to ply the Great Lakes: the Griffon. The ship vanished in September 1679 in either Lake Michigan or Lake Huron, making it also the first recorded shipwreck. It went on to become a legendary ghost ship. Another portion of the display details the Treasure of Poverty Island and the various legends about lost French gold buried there, with origins of the spoils changing with the times.
"It's a strong exhibit, it's fun but it's also tragic” reflected Truckey on the underlying loss of lives behind the shipwreck stories.
The "Mysteries of the Lake: Lake Michigan Legends and Lore” exhibit will run at the Grand Traverse Heritage Center, 322 Sixth St., through December 1. For more information, call the center at 995-0313 or see their web site at www.gtheritagecenter.org.