Saugutuck-Douglas Historical Society

The Saugutuck-Douglas Historical Society will develop an exhibition, “Rowing them Safely Home,” which focuses on the risks, dangers, and opportunities in nineteenth century Great Lakes schooner and steamship travel. The exhibit will feature Saugatuck area shipwreck stories but will pay particular attention to the display and interpretation of one of America’s most famous lifesaving boats, a Francis’s ironclad surfboat. The boat, designed by the famous New York inventor Joseph Francis, is one of two known surviving boats of its kind in the country. Placed along a new “Back-In-Time” pathway at the museum’s recently restored 1866 building, the exhibit aims to increase community understanding of coastal history as well as promote heritage tourism education.