Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit, MI The Dossin Great Lakes Museum tells the history of the Great Lakes and the myriad of boats and ships that used to regularly sail on them. There is a definite emphasis on the maritime history of Detroit and the last 300 years of sailing is shown through a wide variety of pictures, photos and artifacts. The museum is only open to the public from 11am until 4pm on weekends although weekday tours can be booked in advance.
The museum is home to a number of permanent exhibits including the enormous bow anchor of the famous Edward Fitzgerald, the highly impressive smoking lounge from the S.S City of Detroit which has been fully restored with carved oak, brass and stained glass windows to show visitors the luxuriousness of the old steamers and passenger liners, the original pilot house from the S.S William Clay where you can imagine yourself captaining the huge freighter from the upper lakes down to the River Rouge Steel Plant, and the Miss Pepsi — possibly the fastest hydroplane racing boat ever to be built.
In addition, there are often a few temporary exhibits as well including such things as the Maritime Marvels and the Bablo Amusement Park, both of which are particularly amusing to children, plus the largest collection of scale models known in the world. The Dossin Great Lakes Museum also has an interesting gift shop that sells a variety of maritime themed books, posters, pictures and rare photos of the famous ships that sailed the Great lakes.
