One of the great advantages the Door County Maritime Museum brings to the Door County community is its ability to preserve the maritime history of the peninsula.  Our Classic and Wooden Boat Festival does its best to add to that effort.  This year we are honored to host a boat traveling from Minnesota to Sturgeon Bay- a boat with Door County connections and some real history behind it.   Here is Swan, an 18′ US Lighthouse Establishment launch from 1920.  She’s powered by a dual-cylinder 12 horsepower engine.  Her current owner purchased her from a fisherman in Door County in 1975.  She hasn’t been home in quite some time, so stop by the festival to see her in person.

 

And while this boat doesn’t have a true Door County connection, it’s likely the oldest boat you’ll see at the Festival.   Here is a Warren Cole Adirondack Guideboat from 1895!  She 16 beautiful feet long.  Think of it.  Grover Cleveland was President of the United States when she first hit the water.  This is a boat you’ve got to visit.

 

Here’s a fun fact.  The Museum’s boatbuilding class constructed an Adirondack Guideboat this last winter and it is currently being raffled off through the Museum.  So if you would like a Guideboat of your own and you’d like to help support the Museum, buy your raffle tickets at the Festival or at one of the many events taking place around the peninsula this summer.  The drawing will take place at the Pumpkin Patch Festival in Egg Harbor this fall.  The winner does not need to be present.  For information about the raffle, click here.