THE CHRISTMAS TREE SHIP with Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist with the State Historic Preservation Office at WHS
On Friday, November 22, 1912, the Rouse Simmons, heavily laden with 3,000–5,000 Christmas trees filling its cargo hold and covering its deck, left the dock at Thompson, Michigan and headed for Chicago, Illinois. Some eyewitnesses to the Rouse Simmons's departure claimed the ship looked like a floating forest. The ship never made it to Chicago. The ship was last seen by the Kewaunee Life-Saving Station flying a flag in distress five miles offshore. Kewaunee called the Two Rivers station 25 miles south in the hopes that the lifeboat would be able to intercept the ship that was caught in the northwest gale. However, when the lifeboat motored into the lake, the Rouse Simmons was nowhere in sight.
Tamara Thomsen will discuss the story surrounding this famous shipwreck and what archaeologists can tell us about the evidence found on the ship after discovering the shipwreck site in October of 1971.
Please join us in the Shattuck Community Room located on the 1st Floor of the library.
Everyone is welcome. If accommodations are needed to attend, please contact the library administrative office at 920-886-6315 or by email at library@neenahlibrary.org at least 24 hours in advance of the program.
The Adult Afternoon Program series is sponsored by the Friends of the Neenah Public Library and are free and open to the public.