Not only will you find the Peoria Shipwreck standing upright underwater near Baileys Harbor, but you can also find it on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wisconsin Historical Society announced the designation last week, along with the additions of Milwaukee’s Lakeview Hospital, Wausau’s Zion Lutheran Church, Wiota’s Daniel and Catherine Welty Barn, and Waukesha’s Theodore I. and Margaret Morey House. Placed on the State Register last November, the Peoria was built in Ohio in 1853, and in 1901, it was pushed too close to the shallow water in front of the Baileys Harbor Range Lights. After it became stuck in the sand, the crew of six was saved, and everything was taken off the schooner itself, which was considered a total loss. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Peoria allows historians and archaeologists to study its construction and the trade routes it participated in during its service on the Great Lakes. Last December, four ships with ties to Door and Kewaunee counties, including the Peoria, were placed on the list. The schooner Trinidad, discovered near Algoma, is the last area shipwreck to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Picture courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society