Pilot Your Own Freighter at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum

Have you ever visited somewhere in your hometown you've never been before? Where you thought, "It might be kind of interesting", but you weren't expecting much... and then you were COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY and wondered how you could have missed it all this time? Welcome to my Dossin Great Lakes Museum experience.

The Museum opened in 1960 as the home of the region's maritime history, from shipping to the role of the Great Lakes and the Detroit River in the area's development. The cannons out front are from the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Imagine these as part of the festivities at Put-In Bay!

Enter into the Gothic Room, part of the men's smoking lounge from the S.S. Detroit III, a sidewheel steamer that cruised the Great Lakes during Detroit's Golden Age, from 1911 to 1950. The incredible Buildings of Detroit website has more detailed history and photos.

There is a giant wall of stained glass depicting LaSalle's arrival at Detroit.

This map detail of Detroit in 1798 is from the exhibit, City on the Straits, about how the waterways brought people and development here.

Have you ever seen a lighthouse lens up close? There's a roomful of them here... all would be perfectly at home in any contemporary art exhibit.

Another of the many jewel-like Fresnel lenses here...

The Pilot House of the S.S. William Clay Ford overlooks panoramic views of the Detroit River. There's a map room, too.

Other exhibits are full of interesting artifacts....

The employees of the musuem were as engaging and fun as the musuem itself, informative and enthusiastic.