National Museum of the Great Lakes

The National Museum of the Great Lakes sits on the east bank of the Maumee, just across the river from downtown Toledo, and is the best single museum in the United States about the freshwater inland seas that shaped the entire upper Midwest. Permanent galleries cover shipwrecks (including a 4-D theatre about the Edmund Fitzgerald), the building of the Soo Locks, naval history, and the ecology of the lakes themselves.

The moored Schoonmaker freighter — climbable from stem to stern — is the headline attraction; allow 90 minutes for the ship alone. Admission with the ship runs around 17 USD; closed Mondays in winter. The location off the beaten downtown path keeps it relatively uncrowded.

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Moored alongside the museum, the SS Col. James M. Schoonmaker was when launched in 1911 the largest cargo ship on the Great Lakes — a 617-foot bulk freighter that hauled iron ore between Duluth and the steel mills. She is now a National Historic Landmark and is open to visitors who can walk through the engine room, the galley, and the captain's quarters.

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