from “le détroit” · the strait
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle will open free on Lost Mariners Day, November 10, in remembrance of Great Lakes mariners lost at sea, with a ticketed Lost Mariners Brunch two days earlier on November 8.
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is marking the sailors who died on the Great Lakes the way Detroiters know best: with an open door and a good meal.
On Lost Mariners Day, November 10, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum will be open with free admission in remembrance of the Great Lakes mariners who lost their lives at sea. You're invited to walk the galleries and reflect.
The date isn't random. The day marks the anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, which went down in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.
Two days earlier, on November 8, the Detroit Historical Society is pairing that remembrance with a Lost Mariners Brunch at the same museum. It runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and features a Great Lakes presentation followed by a short musical performance by celebrated Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock. General admission is $85. Tickets go on sale to DHS members on October 6 at 10 a.m., and to the general public on October 13 at 10 a.m.
The food is the thread that ties the morning to the lakes. The menu runs to Knickerbocker bean soup and corn chowder, macaroni salad and Greek salad with pickled beets, chicken paprikash and beef stew with mashed potatoes, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Due to the nature of this special menu, the society says it is unable to accommodate dietary restrictions or special requests for this event.
There's a free way to take part on the 8th, too. That afternoon from 3 to 4 p.m., the Lost Mariners Remembrance Ceremony, presented in partnership with the Great Lakes Maritime Institute, carries a memorial wreath from the Detroit River to shore near the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald anchor. There's a ringing of bells in remembrance of those lost aboard the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald and all those lost on the Great Lakes, plus an Honor Flotilla procession. Afterward, warm drinks and songs of remembrance from Lee Murdock wait inside the museum. Admission is free and includes the museum.
For a museum that sits right on the water the Fitzgerald sailed, that's about as close as a landlocked crowd can get to the people it's honoring.
Members can grab brunch tickets starting October 6. Everyone else gets the chance October 13. The free day on November 10 needs no ticket at all.
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