Museum #3: The Rogers Street Fishing Village

Today I wrangled my friend Amber into visiting the Rogers Street Fishing Village with me. I've lived in Two Rivers for almost 5 years and haven't been there, and she's lived here for 11 years ( I believe) and not been there, so this was monumental for both of us. The fishing village contains several different buildings, including an old ice house, the Kahlenburg engine museum (Kahlenburg boat engines were made in Two Rivers), the LeClair fishing shed, the old lighthouse from the Coast Guard, the Buddy O fishing vessel, and the Shipwreck Museum.

We first entered the Buddy O, which was a fishing boat that actually sank and sat at the bottom of the lake for several years, only to be raised back up to the surface and turned into an exhibit. It was kinda cool to walk through because the ceiling was very short, necessitating a very short crew! We then walked through a couple of the other buildings and climbed the lighthouse only to find it locked :( A gentleman who was working there then took us down to the Shipwreck Museum, which is about 3 buildings down the block from the fishing village. Once there, he stood and talked politics, how to save the economy, bragged about having 7 Masters Degrees and having written 7 books. Then he bragged about how he came up with a plan to save Wisconsin's economy and how he gave it to his banker who just so happens to be best friends with Governor Scott Walker. So when the economy turns around, it will be 100% this man's doing. He told us that he knows lots of important people, and his exact words were, "I'm a very important person too, which you'd know if you knew me." Amber and I were just completed flabbergasted by this pompous man. I have never ever heard anyone brag about themselves so much in my entire life. He then (finally) took us into the Shipwreck Museum, which you have all seen if you've ever walked/driven down Rogers Street. It's right next to the abandoned motel. I honestly thought it was another abandoned building, too! I had no idea it was still in operation. It wasn't much, though. It had quite a few objects from 3 local shipwrecks- the Vernon, the Rouse Simmons and the Frances Hinton. They were neat, but I feel like once you've seen items rescued from a shipwreck they all pretty much look the same. I might also not be impressed with these because I've seen items recovered from the Titanic so this seems like small peanuts to me.

Overall, I don't want to discourage you from going to this museum just because of the terrible experience I had with the tour guide. He told us this is his last week of volunteering there (he's been working there for 143 days to be exact, he said). Just to give you a heads up, though, he's the man with the cankles (calf-ankles, ie no ankles), lots of gold jewelry and really bad breath. I hope God forgives me for all the terrible things I've said about this man, because I'm sure his mother really loved him (that's what I always think to myself when I meet someone I consider to be really unloveable). I think kids will enjoy this museum because you get to actually go inside the Buddy O, and it's a small enough group of buildings that about the time kids lose interest you'll be done.

The pictures are: me in front of the coast guard lighthouse at the fishing village, me studying the tools used for processing fish inside the Buddy O, me standing outside the Museum, and me standing outside the Shipwreck Museum after being bored silly listening to the guy tell his ridiculous stupid stories.

Address: 2010 Rogers Street
Hours: Mon-Fri 10-4, Sat-Sun 12-4 Open until mid-October, then closed till Memorial Day
Would I recommend: Eh. Maybe, just so you can say you've been there
Awesomeness level: 2
Website: http://rogersstreet.com/index.htm
Time required 30-45 minutes
Cost: $4 adults, $2 kids