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The Christmas Tree Ship
December 2, 2019
All aboard the Christmas Tree Ship!
Author Rochelle Pennington has written two books detailing one of the most well-known shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan’s Christmas Tree Ship. The ship delivered holiday evergreens to the citizens of Chicago each Christmas season before it went to the bottom of the lake fully loaded with trees.
The true account of the Christmas Tree Ship considered “the most loved story of the Great Lakes” over the past century, has inspired paintings, poems, songs, television programs and a musical. It also has roused a new Christmas Tree Ship sailed by the Great Lakes Coast Guard each holiday as a living memorial.
“It is a story which exemplifies the best of humanity,” says Rochelle Pennington, author and speaker. “The moment I heard the story of the Christmas Tree Ship, I understood why it had endeared itself to so many people over the years.”
Rochelle Pennington will present a program for Prime Timers on The Christmas Tree Ship. The program is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 2 at 1 p.m. in the Farm Bureau Theater.
Her true account of Captain Schuenemann and his schooner includes original photographs and focuses on little-known facts, clues washed ashore over the decades following the ship’s mysterious disappearance, ghost ship sightings, and omens believed to have fixed the fate of the vessel before it set sail on its final voyage on Nov. 22, 1912.
Artifacts raised from the sunken ship will be on display, along with underwater photos of the ship in its current state at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
Farm Bureau Prime Timers interested in attending this program and the preceding lunch at 12-noon on Dec. 2 should register at the Farm Bureau office. Lunch fee is $7. Deadline to register is Nov. 26.
Rochelle Pennington will discuss the history of The Christmas Tree Ship on Dec. 2.
