A Day At The Museum – Algonac Maritime Museum.
A Gar Wood and Chris Craft greet you when you come in
Well.. What can we say about yesterday. Rain rain go away til.. later today. it just didn’t shut down the show, it slammed the door and went home, like many of the boaters expected at a record breaking event. But we’re in Algonac, home of motor boating. And there is a ton of other stuff to do. In fact in a very strange way, it was the perfect day. no boats to look at, we did that yesterday. Today was an opportunity to take in the spirit of how our passion was created. And the Maritime Museum in Algonac is a great place to start. You can see some cool stuff there that is from here in Algonac.
Amazing small local boats
Tankers and small local boats are what the area is all about.
A cool little hydro
Cobra parts
Amazing trophys.. lots of them
Very cool models
A very cool little raffle winner from 1949
How about a sip of Vernors
Cool old sign
A very cool old work table, belongs in a museum.. Wait.. it is in a museum
I see oil filter coffee cups in our future
Miss America X model is great
Jimmy looking through the museum
The grand prize Chris Craft
HA, Jimmys boat is on this cool Ducks Unlimeted art work.
But honestly the entire town is a museum. The wonderful restaurant Catch 22 which was the local bar, which we also visited. But right now lets talk about the museum. Located in a donated bank a couple years ago. The museum is thriving and located across the street from the statue of Chris Smith and gar Wood.
Chris Smith and gar Wood looking out of the water
Also right down the street from the Algonac Cemetery where Gar Wood and Chris Smith are resting in peace.
Christopher Columbus Smith 1861 -1939 is right here next to me!
A man that owned half of Miami wanted to be burred at home in Algonac.
And of course there is another museum on Algonac, but its loaded with great local stuff.
A cool model of a landing craft
one of gar Woods racing boxes.
The list of rare one of a kind local history is all here. Rain, or shine, or lots of more rain cant damper the Algonac spirit or fun. That is the magic of the area and the low presure fun aspect of this local community. We will report more through the week. Right now we are off to drive home. Stay tuned, and look for info on the great Woody boater Poker run in Muskoka.
Great coverage of the show and museum…so many great local boating industry items! Sorry about the rain you experienced, but it did give good reason to run for shelter- what better place than the local museums?
I’ll have to make time to see those next time I get to that show…it’s great fun even in the wet!
PS- I wore my ancient Algonac Harbour Club shirt all day yesterday in tribute…and drank Coffee Varnish, of course!
another great story!
John in Va.
Yesterday was Beautiful here. Now we are having the torrential rains that you had yesterday.
That museum looks very cool.
LOVE the floor.
105 here yesterday. Warmer today. Maybe Gore was right…or too many Strohs
Neat to see the old Vernors bottles, where walleyes were pickerel and Strohs was the beer.
Is it true that Vernors Ginger Ale makes you sneeze?
Too bad about the rain. But the weather at the Bay Harbor, Mi antique and classic boat and car show this weekend was perfect. Many outstanding wood boats were in attendance. The antique cars were some of the best I’ve seen. This is really a teriffic venue for a show. Too bad it conflicts with the Algonac show.
Jon: You should submit a story to Matt and Texx.
I would love to see some pics!
I got home late last night,but just wanted to thank all the people that took the time to put this event on, from Pete for the great historical facility,to the Bricon for inviting us to their island and home,[excuse spelling],also Hagarty and the club for the food,I know my meal tickets wouldn’t pay enough to get it all their or actually just thanks to all,,even John Gambill for the ride to the island,,It made the weekend, the rain did send me to town to get smarter and it worked,over all turned out well,and of course thanks to Matt for keeping this going,,c u next time Bill
Went to the show in the rain! Spent about 90 minutes there looking at all the boats – mostly covered – had a great time. Brought our umbrellas but the wind was so stiff that we got soaked anyway. We looked for the Woody Boater set up and didn’t find it. Saw your vehicle (at least I think it was – had Virginia plates on it). We did find a nice sister ship to ours but the owners weren’t around so didn’t get to talk with them.
They had gone to the trouble of send up display space for boats & vendors inside and even had parking inside. Still not very many took advantage of it. So we went touring through town just to see what there was to see.
We explored the labyrinthine canal nbhds. and looked at a lot neat places. We had our picnic lunch in a parking lot that was literally at waters edge. By then the waves were whitecaps! So it was almost like being caught out in a storm on Lake St. Clair!
Then we went past the Casting Plant & took a few pics while the rain briefly stopped. Found Gar Woods old home and the Smith Family row of homes. All in all we still had an enjoyable time, just not the one we expected.
Sunday, the sun returned to Algonac. The run to The Old Club and back was spectacular for this first time Woody Boater.
Black Beauty lead the way, Tiger Lily “water skied” in her smooth wake. The posse from Pennsylvania came along in the Donzi and the Red & White (Eulipion). I expected the Donzi to be the rocket she is, but Eulipion is surprisingly quick too. One the way back, Gary entertained in his 69 Commander Super Sport (Bar Taxi 🙂 ) jumping Black Beauty’s wake a few times.
I know I’m forgetting a few others on the run……it was an overload of beautiful boats on turquoise water that would make the Caribbean jealous.
Special thanks to Greg and Marianne Lewandowski for taking Shannon and I on our first ride in classic mahogany. Tiger Lily is a stunning boat and a very classy lady. And thanks to the club members for making newcomers feel so welcome.
If you haven’t been to Algonac, what are you waiting for….GO!!! Even though Mother Nature didnt get the memo to provide perfect weather for our very first show (and several other first timers that we met) we were warmly welcomed by very friendly club members and boat owners who took it all in stride and made the best of the day. Can’t wait for next year….our XK will be ready to play.
Do you have some pictures of your XK?????
Mark cuda man:
Here you go……Blue Commander SS was at Algonac this past weekend. White / Red is my boat and was not there.
If I can answer any questions, drop me a line……1scottknight@gmail.com
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Scott,
Your XK looks great. Can’t wait to see her and get a ride.
Scott,
Was good to meet you and your wife and talk a little XK. I look very much forward to seeing your boat and sharing more XK stories with you .
John
Matt, A big THANK YOU to WB for coming to Algonac……..Where it All Began, we hope you enjoyed it.
BTW in one of your shots in the Museum there was three small boats, the CC Kit boat I restored (on loan to the Museum) it was a CC Kit that was built in the Algonac School Boat building class. CC donated the materials for said classes with the idea that they might get new employees with a little experience.
I have a Johnson 5 hp 1952 to donate to the museum. Contact me.