Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

Name: Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Address: 18335 N Whitefish Point Road, Paradise, MI, 49768, US
Telephone: +18884923747
Price range: $
Rating: 4.8

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United States
Paradise, MI
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

The museum is open every day May 1 to October 31, from 10 am to 6 pm.
(1858)

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society was founded in 1978 by a group of divers, teachers, and educators to commence exploration of historic shipwrecks in eastern Lake Superior, near Whitefish Point in Michigan’s scenic Upper Peninsula. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum has become one of Michigan’s most popular destinations in the cultural tourism industry, attracting over 75,000 visitors eac

h season. Museum patrons learn about the perils of maritime transport on the Great Lakes at the Whitefish Point Light Station, an Historic Site on the National Register of Historic Places. See the Whitefish Point Light Tower, in continuous operation for 155 years, the oldest operating lighthouse on Lake Superior.

05/08/2026

Poster contest update...free downloadable link below.

05/07/2026

Today, 05/07/26, marks the inaugural day of our 2026 shipwreck searching season. Our 47-foot research vessel, R/V David Boyd, left the Yacht Haven on Drummond Island this morning and will make its way up the St. Mary's river, through the Soo Locks, then into Whitefish Bay, destination...Whitefish Point Harbor. Onboard is Captain Darryl Ertel, and his brother, First Mate Dan Ertel.

You can follow the whole trip on the Marine Traffic app https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-84.221/centery:46.452/zoom:12

Or check back here for video and pictures of the trip!

05/02/2026

***UPDATE ON POSTER CONTEST***

Well, we tried but we placed 2nd in the poster contest behind Wyoming. Many of you are asking how to get this poster? Here's how. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum DOES NOT carry these in our stores. This is SHPO property (we were just helping them out) and they are all out of prints. However, SHPO has provided a high quality downloadable link for everyone...and it's free.

https://www.miplace.org/4a82a5/globalassets/documents/shpo/programs-and-services/archaeology/explore-archaeology/awareness-posters/2025-shpo-archaeology-poster-web-final.pdf

Thanks to all who voted!

*Original post below*

Thanks to all who made yesterday a great open to our 2026 season. We also got some good news from SHPO (State Historical Preservation Office) that a poster they created last year to honor the 29 men of the Edmund Fitzgerald has been placed in a national contest, and they could use your help. If you'd like to vote, follow the instructions below. Last day to vote is May 5th.

From SHPO:

VOTE FOR MICHIGAN! If you love Michigan, our maritime history, and the intrigue of the Edmund Fitzgerald, we need your help.

Michigan's official state archaeology poster "Twenty-Nine Bells: Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald" has been entered into the Society for American Archaeology's State Archaeology Poster Contest against posters from more than a dozen other states. Michigan's poster honors the loss of the Fitzgerald through historical photos, information, and original artwork of the ship fighting the waves of Lake Superior.

You can vote today with one click and your email address in less than a minute: https://www.saa.org/postercontest

https://www.miplace.org/historic-preservation/archaeology/2025-michigan-archaeology-poster/

We'll let you know how the contest goes...and thank you to SHPO for making the poster.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is open from May1st to October 31st 9am-5pm.

05/01/2026

And the first visitors to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum of 2026 are...Nick Baecker and Brenda Schmidtknecht of Independence, WI! Thanks for making the drive to Whitefish Point on this brisk spring day (but at least you beat the crowds)! We appreciate you kicking off our 2026 year and being our first friends through the door.

We are now open May 1st-October 31st 9am-5pm 7 days a week.

And you can always log onto our WX camera 24/7 to see the beautiful views of Whitefish Point and Lake Superior.

https://shipwreckmuseum.com/about/live-weather-cam/

04/30/2026

Tomorrow is Opening Day 2026! Who will be our first visitors?

We look forward to sharing the haunting stories, and breathtaking beauty, of Whitefish Point...we hope you can make it up!

Open May 1st-October 31st from 9am-5pm.

See you soon.

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day...this beautiful blue ball is all we got for now. Treat it good.

Open May 1st-Oct 31st (next week).

04/15/2026

Who's Ready-

We open in 2 weeks from today!

May 1st-October31st
9am-5pm

See you at Whitefish Point soon.

04/03/2026

This is a very informative and visual timelapse from our WX camera taken on 3/28/26 & 3/29/26 over 21 hours. It shows what the freighters are battling trying to get through the ice this season.

We do not know the names of any of these freighters (too far away).

:00-:40 seconds. This freighter came into camera frame at 8:30pm on 3/28/26 and leaves our camera frame at :57. You'll notice it slows down a lot at :40 seconds. In normal weather it would take only 15 minutes (maximum) to transit this camera view. It took this freighter 12 hours just to pass our Lighthouse.

At :27 seconds, you'll see a very ominous shadow start to overtake the Whitefish Point grounds from the bottom left...kind of creepy!

At 1:01 seconds, you'll see a couple freighters get into the ice track of the first freighter and then get stuck. Then see the freighter back up and try again. While this is happening, you'll other ships also backing up trying to make another run at the ice...very interesting.

At 1:30 seconds, you'll see an icebreaker pop into view and you'll also see some ships who took different tracks and getting through with no problem (at least the camera view).

Video ends at 1:50 minutes.

Whitefish Bay and around the point is jam packed full of ice. This is just a small look at what the crews are having to deal with this season!

DO NOT WALK ON THE ICE! YOU'RE TAKING YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS.

04/01/2026

No joke. Our 2026 season starts in one month from today!

We hope to see you at Whitefish Point soon!

Open 9am-5pm May 1st-October 31st.

03/29/2026

We recently had some old film digitized and found a bit of a goldmine!

This is the USCG icebreaking Tug W92 the NAUGATUCK. It was built in 1939 and decommissioned in 1979.

At 110 feet long she was a real workhorse. In this old film (not sure the date) the NAUGATUCK is clearing out the Sugar Island Ferry dock. I believe this Sugar Island Ferry ended up being the Neebish Island Ferry, did Cliff Tiner (sp) own the ferry for a bit? Maybe some old timers could answer that for us.

She has a storied career. W92 was part of the CEDARVILLE search in 1965. It's also said she one of the first USCG vessels involved in the EDMUND FITZGERALD's search where all they found was jackets, life rings, oars and debris (trying to 100% confirm this)

She changed hands through the years...does anybody know where she is now and if good old Tug W92 is still working the lakes?

More old film to come!

Fred Stonehouse Rockie Taghon James Geyer Scott Morley Ric Mixter's Wrecknology

The music in this video is from the platform "Artlist" and we do hold the license.

01/30/2026

We all love Whitefish Point for many different reasons. The history, the stories and even the drama...on 01/29/26 the sunrise was very dramatic, it almost looked like a 1920's movie scene, black and white. Check out this 90-minute timelapse in 60 seconds.

Address

18335 N Whitefish Point Road
Paradise, MI
49768

Telephone

+18884923747

Website

https://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/

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