The first thing you need to know is that the S.S. City of Milwaukee, located in Manistee, is a boatel — not a hotel. Before you come aboard to spend the night, here are a few other fun facts about the ship.
Maritime history buffs as well as people looking for a unique place to spend the night will be delighted to book a room on the boatel, a restored 1931 Great Lakes ferry. Guests will experience what it’s like to sleep in one of 16 staterooms, complete with the original oak paneling and brass fixtures. They’ll enjoy breakfast in the galley and savor sweeping deck views as they dream of what life was like on the lakes a century ago.
Luxury hotel fans may pause, because bathrooms and showers are located down the hall and shared with other guests. There’s no air conditioning or heat, no bar, no TVs, and no elevators.
“It’s not a five-star hotel; it’s more like a historical experience,” says Robby Laurain, executive director of the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee.
Part museum, part boatel, part haunted ship, the Milwaukee is a familiar citizen in the Lake Michigan beach town. Countless weddings, parties, reunions, and tours mean thousands of visitors have trod the six decks of the old ship, even though she’s securely docked and “hasn’t moved on her own power since 1981,” Laurain says.
The ship is 360 feet long — the length of a full football field. Once in a great while, impressive winds still can cause her to sway.
“I’ve been involved for 10 years and only felt her move half a dozen times,” Laurain says. “It’s cool, though. It’s like she’s saying, ‘I’m still a boat.’ ”
This year, the S.S. City of Milwaukee will be serving as a boatel through Aug. 24. Staterooms are either former passenger berths (all bunks) or cabins that belonged to crew or railroad executives (double beds). Rates are reasonable, at $60-$110 a night. Guests can come and go, and there’s Wi-Fi. On special days, visitors can take a guided tour of the ship for an additional charge.
“Your rooms don’t exactly have heat or AC, but they’re such sweet accommodations. It’s fun for children, priced appropriately, and you can’t beat staying on the water,” says Sammie Lukaskiewicz, executive director of Manistee County Tourism.
From the ship, you can see the sun rise, and within a few minutes’ drive are downtown Manistee, Lake Michigan beaches, and the Little River Casino. Hiking, biking, fishing, camping, and dining are all just a skip and a step away.
So how did the ship end up in Manistee? She retired.
The S.S. City of Milwaukee went into service on Lake Michigan in 1931, in the heyday of the great “car ferry” business. The cars the ship transported weren’t automobiles, but giant, fully loaded railroad cars. The Milwaukee, with her heavy steel hull and structure, could haul 28 to 32 railroad cars across the lake from Michigan to Wisconsin and back.
Eventually, accommodations for autos and passengers were added as an affordable way to cross the lake. But as the railroad car transport business faded, so did the ferries. When the Milwaukee finally ceased service in 1981, “she had a full 50 years,” Laurain says. She’s the only remaining ferry of her type.
In 2000, tugs brought the ferry down from Frankfort and anchored her in
Manistee Lake.
Today, she’s most popular not as a museum or boatel, but as a haunted “ghost ship” in October and as a site for paranormal investigators. The haunted ghost ship is a major fundraiser. And ghosts are, of course, believed to be aboard — why wouldn’t they be?
Visitors claim to hear footsteps and other noises, and occasionally have seen ghostly apparitions. Its reputation for being haunted keeps the S.S. City of Milwaukee cheerfully afloat in the cutthroat tourism world.
The ship is moored just off U.S. 31, a popular west Michigan north-south tourism route. Manistee County has 26 miles of sugary-sand Lake Michigan beaches, including three beaches near Manistee. First Street Beach is considered the most beautiful, while the Fifth Avenue Beach has a Coast Guard station and lighthouse, and North Beach is known by locals as “dog beach.” All are worth a visit.
“Manistee attracts people interested in nautical tourism,” Lukaskiewicz says. “It’s a Victorian port city, so having a steamship you actually can stay on is really part of that, to see what it was like when people used the steamer to go across the lake.”
As for the S.S. City of Milwaukee, she’s lucky to have found a forever home in Manistee, although Laurain says it’s really the city that lucked out. “We’re very lucky to have her at all,” he says. “She’s 94 years old this year. All the other ships of that design are all gone now; even many newer ships are gone. She’s a national historic landmark.”
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S.S. City of Milwaukee
carferry.com
Manistee Tourism
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