Fire, Shipwreck And Cheese: The Boom-And-Bust Ghost Ports Of Wisconsin

Description

In the mid to late 19th century, dozens of small rural communities sprang up along the Lake Michigan coastline, each with its own lake pier and general store.

The ports shipped timber, stone and farm products to Chicago and other cities and supplied incoming colonists and settlers with the income and goods they needed to survive. The lost ports tell stories of catastrophic fires, panicking cooks, angry horses, eavesdropping clerks, beer and cheese. Most importantly, the story of Wisconsin’s lost rural coastal communities is how Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline was transformed from timberland to today’s farms and cities.

Join Amy Rosebrough, Wisconsin State Archaeologist, to learn about these lost ports and the histories of the people and ships that called them home.

Meet at the Sanderling Nature Center, parking lot P3.