Conjectural model of Le Griffon. Built in 1679 for Sieur de La Salle on the Niagara River and ultimately made it to Lake Michigan. Believed to be the first sailing vessel on the upper Great Lakes. La Salle went ashore in Wisconsin and sent her back with a skeleton crew and cargo. She was never seen again. Scale 3/8" = 1'

Typical Great Lakes cargo and passenger steamer of the mid- 19th  century. Built in 1851, she sank in 1860 when rammed off Winnetka by a schooner in a gale. Of the 300 to 500 people on board, 300+ died and fewer than 100 made it to shore. Scale 1/8"=1' ​

The first of the centerboard "Clipper" schooners built by William Bates of Manitowoc, WI in 1852. The beginning of the lakes schooner as a distinct type. Scale 1/8" = 1'

Commissioned by the Coastal Craft Division of the U.S. Bureau of Ships, Peterson Boat Works (now Palmer-Johnson) constructed 17 of these submarine chasers in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin during World War II. Completed between 1942 and 1944, their mission was to hunt and destroy enemy submarines. To that end they were equipped with that era's best detection and firing devices. Primarily constructed of wood, they had watertight steel bulkheads, engine foundations and fuel tanks. Fitted with two 1200 h.p. lightweight diesel engines and carrying crews of 27 men, these vessels were fast and deadly. Allied shipping all over the world was protected by these subchasers. Model build by Quincy Adams Yacht Yard. Scale 3/8" = 1'

​Model of the USS Wolverine, built in 1991 by William G. Ballenger. The USS Wolverine was originally the side-wheel steamer Seeandbee that was converted to an aircraft carrier in 1942. Between 1944 and 1945, roughly 18,000 pilots trained and qualified as naval aviators on the USS Wolverine and its sister ship the USS Sable on Lake Michigan.