Wreck of the Lottie Cooper

We read Wooden Ship the building of a wooden sailing vessel in 1870 by Jan Adkins prior to our trip. We found the wreck of the Lottie Cooper an excellent example of the workmanship we read about. It is amazing to think how much work went into building a wooden ship. As a homeschooling family we found this a good place to explore some history. We also enjoyed ending our visit on the beach.

This is totally overrated. It is just a bunch of old boards that make up part of a boat. Takes about 10 seconds to see. The area by the lake smells like a sewer.

The remains of the Lottie Cooper consist of the massive wooden sides, centerboard, and centerboard well from roughly the middle third of a large lake schooner. You can see how the shipwrights cut the ends of the timbers to make strong joints, and how they fastened the courses of timbers together with iron bars. There are walkways inside the hull for safe viewing, and informative signs inside and out. Swing by for a quick look, or stop and dream a while about the days of wooden ships and iron men.

When we got to the place where the Lottie Cooper was displayed, we found out that it was right next to a public beach with lots of clean sand, a playground, volleyball nets and a great lawn to fly kites. There is also a long cement pier fishing and seeing the lake. I would recommend stopping here not just to see the wreck but also to spend some time on a beautiful beach. The wreck is next to the road and there is no admission fee. We are planning on going back in a few weeks to spend more time here.