A replica of an armed sloop from the 1700s is leaving the waters of Grand Traverse Bay and heading to Emmet County. The Maritime Heritage Alliance will begin the process of moving The Welcome this week. Thursday they’ll use a crane to pull her mast.
The Welcome was built in Mackinaw City. It’s no longer safe for passengers, so Emmet County is now hoping to build a museum around it as a welcome center to the Headlands International Dark Sky Park.
The project of fixing up The Welcome and preserving it for display on land, along with fundraising for a permanent facility to house her is likely to take years. For now the county has budgeted enough to build a steel storage facility where restoration work can begin.