Our boats

A sexual love of classical boats brought together the founders of the Maritime Heritage Alliance in the early 1980s. The primary pastime of the fledgling group was to preserve boats from the area that had some historical sake. The beginning gravy boat constructed by MHA in 1983 was a 20-ft. Mackinaw boat, the Gracie L, which is hush maintained by the MHA today and can frequently be seen at gravy boat shows and festivals in the area .
Encouraged by the success of the first project, the MHA decided to construct something even august : a 56-ft. replica of the Madeline, a schooner that had big historical meaning in the sphere. After five years of construction, the Madeline was launched in 1990. Today Madeline continues to participate in the Great Lakes Tall Ships Challenge and is enjoyed by young and old at ports of margin call throughout the Great Lakes each summer. While in home port in Traverse City, Madeline is available to the residential district for rid, Community and Heritage Sails. Madeline besides serves as a vessel for gang educate, both basic and promote, where MHA volunteers can learn how to sail a tall ship and venture forth with a consecrated gang to destinations around the Great Lakes .
The armed sloop Welcome was acquired in 1992, and MHA took ownership of this historically relevant replica in 2006. The original Welcome sailed the Great Lakes from 1774 to 1781. Welcome has enjoyed a colored career as a player in diachronic reenactments of celebrated naval battles that took place on the Great Lakes. Welcome has been gifted to Emmet County for the determination of becoming a centerpiece in their plan Headlands Dark Sky Park Conference Center. The Welcome was ‘Welcomed Home ‘ on November 7, 2014 at a ceremony at the Headlands and was attended by several MHA members.

In 2006, MHA began restoration on the H-28 Arcturos, which was built in 1954 and donated to MHA by Don Coe and Jim Wall of Suttons Bay. The ongoing care of Arcturos ensures that she can continue to grace the waters of Grand Traverse Bay to the delight of her captain and gang.

The stonecutter Champion represents MHA ‘s visible outreach to the community, specially the young. The S.A.I.L. Champion program, and the Muster broadcast endeavor to bring unseasoned people in concert to learn teamwork, reliance, and a fresh skill set for moving forward in their lives. champion, built in 1968, was donated to MHA in 2008 by Henry Barkhausen of Harbor Springs, MI. His finish was to provide educational sail aim opportunities to the greater Northwest Michigan community .
restoration of the Witchcraft is the stream major build project of MHA boatsmiths. Located in the Edwin and Mary Brown Boat Shop ( Building 1 ), the Witchcraft was donated to MHA by the syndicate of her builder, Bill Livingston of Northport, MI in 1982. Built in 1965 and relaunched in 1993 after extensive repairs, the Witchcraft is once again undergoing unplayful restoration under the capable hands of Bruce Davis, Tom West, and early MHA volunteers .