Maritime Museum is a nonprofit historical museum carrying the mission to protect, preserve and interpret the maritime history of Marquette, Lake Superior and the Great Lakes along with remembering the submarine veterans. The museum offers self-guided tours and guided Marquette Harbor Lighthouse tours.

“We are housed in the 1891 City Waterworks building (designed by Marquette architect D. Fred Charlton) and a lot of the pipes still exist under the floor of the gallery,” Hilary Billman, muse director, said.

The museum offers discounted tickets for NMU students and free art and history workshops for kids all summer and year-round maritime lectures, events and demonstrations such as the annual Lyle gun demonstration in August. This summer, the museum is offering paranormal lighthouse tours every Friday night starting in June.

“We have four art/history workshops planned for kids so far with more to come, we celebrate Lake Superior Day on July 18 with booths on lake conservation and education in our parking lot, and we are so excited to bring back our annual fundraiser, Ghosts of Lighthouse Point in October,” Billman said.

To keep everyone safe and follow safety protocols for COVID-19, the museum has restructured the lighthouse tours to make sure that all guests, volunteers and staff are safe and comfortable. Masks are required in buildings and participation for events are limited. 

Currently the museum has an intern from NMU’s Outdoor Recreation program. The museum loves to have NMU students volunteer for lighthouse tours or help with Ghosts of Lighthouse Point. Anyone who is interested can email Hilary at [email protected].