A freshwater Lake Michigan sanctuary protecting nationally significant shipwrecks along Wisconsin's coast.
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary
The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary is a federally designated marine protected area in Lake Michigan, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and jointly managed with the State of Wisconsin. It lies along roughly 82 miles of Wisconsin's coastline, covering waters off Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee counties, and stretches several miles offshore within the state's waters. The sanctuary's defining feature is its collection of historically significant shipwrecks, which document the maritime trade that connected Wisconsin's lake ports to the broader Great Lakes network during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
At the time of designation, 36 known shipwrecks had been documented within sanctuary waters, with archival research suggesting that as many as 59 or 60 additional wrecks may still lie undiscovered on the lakebed. Many of these wrecks remain remarkably well preserved because of Lake Michigan's cold, fresh water, providing an unusually intact archaeological record of schooners, steamers, and barges that once carried goods, lumber, and passengers across the upper Midwest.
Created in 2021 as the fifteenth U.S. national marine sanctuary and the first for Lake Michigan, the site builds on decades of Wisconsin-led research into the state's underwater cultural heritage. Beyond its archaeological importance, the sanctuary also serves as a focal point for maritime education, lakebed mapping, scientific exploration, and coastal tourism in communities such as Port Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Two Rivers.
