Tour of the Gitche Gumee Museum

After I posted the photos of the museum's gift shop the other day, I received a request to also include photos of the museum.  Although the building is small, there is a lot packed into a small space.  The first two rooms are gift shop; the back three rooms are museum.

The Gitche Gumee Museum....

Shall we go in?

Walking through the gift shop into the museum...

A corner of the mineral room with a display on U.P. mining.

Specimens of the top agate locations from around the world.

Beach rock categories...

How to find agates display...

Mineral groups...

The other day a regular museum visitor and agate hunter came in and donated the artwork below.  He painted the museum on a large piece of basalt and made the stand out of driftwood.  Thank you Bryan Wolbrink!

A collection of antique agate marbles...

A large quartz crystal...

A fluorescent mineral display...

Michigan minerals and types of agate display, as well as some of the museum founder's funny rocks.

The Worrywort-Eater use to scare me when I was a kid visiting the museum.

 

The museum founder, Axel, used to wear this sign in the July 4th parade.  We called him Oxi.

 

The sign written in Finnish means "rock corner."

 

One of Axel's dancing puppets.

 

Grand Marais logging history.

 

Local artifacts.

 

  

One of the only Keating sweaters known to exist, made in Grand Marais more than 100 years ago.

 

The sweater knitting machine used to make the above sweater.

Memorial board for the museum founder, Axel.

 

 

Grand Marais history....

 

Fishing history...

 

Mystery items....

More fishing history...