For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara O’Keeffe
[email protected]
608-261-9596

June 21, 2019

The Advance Shipwreck Listed in National Register of Historic Places

Town of Nasewaupee, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of theAdvance (barge) in the vicinity of the Town of Nasewaupee, Door County, in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and for rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.

The barge Advance, built in 1871, and sunk in 1921 is located in the waters of Green Bay, 520 feet east of the shores of Sand Bay Peninsula, of Door County, and lies broken in 8 feet of water on a rocky bottom. The barge was built in 1871 by Alvin A. Turner in Trenton, Michigan for the Peshtigo Lumber Company. The vessel spent 50 years towed around Lake Michigan until she went ashore in a storm and was lost in 1921. The Advance is representative of a little discussed vessel type that was once common throughout the Great Lakes, the barge. Little historical documentation exists on the construction and conversion of barges. Evidence of a bustle on the shipwreck site suggests adaptation; further study allows the opportunity to learn more about barge conversion techniques.  The Advance also plays an important role in understanding the maritime towing and wrecking industry; for example, her use as a lighter allows for insights into the methods and equipment used in salvage and helps us understand more about the use of this type of ship.

State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure when visiting this site. Removing, defacing, displacing or destroying the artifacts or sites is a crime. More information on Wisconsin’s historic shipwrecks may be found by visiting Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks website, www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org.

The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visitwww.wisconsinhistory.org.

About Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.

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