Keweenaw County Historical Society
Caretakers of the past, stewards of the future
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The Keweenaw History Museum
(Photo: In addition to small size mineral specimens, the museum has large objects such as the car in the background that tells the story of the wreck of the S.S. Bangor.)
Since 1982 the Keweenaw County Historical Society has maintained four museums at the light station. Besides the lighthouse, they include a Maritime Museum in the old fog signal building, a Keweenaw History Museum located in the old U. S. Coast Guard Station garage, and Commercial Fishing Museum located in one of the assistant keepers' buildings which was moved from the original Lifesaving Station across the harbor to this site when the station closed. (Photo: The Museum has objects ranging from local art, artifacts, minerals, and mining items such as float copper and a wooden kibble.)
Visiting The Keweenaw History MuseumHours & Admission- The Keweenaw History Museum is part of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Complex and is open from mid-June to early October. Admission $5.00. Children free. Check the Site and Museum Schedule page for specific hours of operation. Location- The Keweenaw History Museum is located in the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Complex, located on Lighthouse Drive. GPS: N 47 27.560 W 88 09.600, Decimal Degrees: 47.459330, -88.160000 Related Links- | ALL KCHS buildings will NOT open in 2020 AND all public events are CANCELED for 2020 Based upon the recommendations of various well-documented public health, government and organizational sources, at the May 21, 2020 Keweenaw County Historical Society Board Meeting it was decided that the Keweenaw County Historical Society not staff any facilities or open any buildings in the summer of 2020 in light of the risk of the spread of the Covid-19 virus. It is further the stance of KCHS that the organization does not want to be in a position where we, as an organization, inadvertently spread this virus to visitors or to our volunteers at KCHS facilities/activities in the U.P. |
The Keweenaw's history is a complex mixture of mining, shipping, tourism, and the struggles of everyday life on America’s early ‘Western” frontier. The Keweenaw History museum contains displays that look at each of these areas. The Eagle Harbor exhibit shows photographs of the development of Eagle Harbor from a mining town and then a lumber community to an early tourist destination. The history of mining is displayed through photographs and artifacts that trace the 6,000 year old history of mining in the Keweenaw. The wreck of the S. S. Bangor in 1926 near Copper Harbor and its load of Chrysler automobiles is examined in detail. Life in the Keweenaw is shown through photos, artworks, and even one of the 1926 Chryslers from the S.S. Bangor.
The Keweenaw County Historical Keweenaw History Museum is located on the grounds of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse complex in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. It is located in the old Coast Guard garage building on the site.
