Spring Dinner
This dinner is held on the last Wednesday of May before Memorial Day each year. All members are invited to enjoy a night of food and fellowship. Each dinner features a special guest speaker or an exciting presentation about the history of Pentwater or the surrounding area. Past topics have included: Armistice Day, Icebreaker Ships and Songs of Lake Michigan.
Community-Wide Garage Sale
The Pentwater Historical Society Museum participates in the Community-Wide Garage Sale each year. PHS takes donations of any kind, so do your spring cleaning and forget about the hassle of setting up and pricing and leave it to PHS! Drop off your gently loved treasures to the PHS and we will do the rest! All proceeds go to the upkeep and maintenance of the Museum. The Community-Wide Garage Sale occurs each year in early June. (Please note: We do not accept couches, pillows, bed linens, or clothes.)
Homecoming Parade
Join the Pentwater Historical Society in the annual Homecoming Parade! Be a part of the design team, walking team, or cheer from the crowd! The Annual Homecoming Parade occurs the second weekend in August.
Summer Dinner
This dinner is held the fourth Wednesday of August before Labor Day each year. All members are invited to enjoy a night of food and fellowship. Each dinner features a special guest speaker or an exciting presentation about the history of Pentwater or the surrounding area. Past events have included: Pure Michigan, SS Jarvis Lord Shipwreck and Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.
Water Taxi History Tour
Learn the history of Pentwater and its surroundings while touring the lake on the Pentwater Water Taxi.
Cost is $10 per person.
Departing at 3:45-4:45 Tuesday – Saturday.
Contact pentwaterwatertaxi@gmail.com for more information or for scheduling your cruise.
Walking Tour – Historic Pentwater and its Architecture
Join a guided walking tour of picturesque Pentwater led by architectural researcher Pam VanderPloeg. She will share the styles and the stories of homes and buildings, many dating back to the 1860-1870s. The tour will leave from the Pentwater Historical Society Museum and take in the beauty of the historic homes located on Pentwater’s quaint residential streets. The tour will also walk by civic and commercial buildings and sites that represent the spirited history of this village that began as an 1850s lumbering settlement.
Tour details
Cost: FREE (Museum donations accepted)
Duration: 90 minutes.
Distance: ~1.25 miles.
Size: Max. 10
Time: TBD for 2022
Dates: TBD for 2022
Put some “HISTORY” on your boat
The Pentwater Historical Society is offering boat owners a special history outing at no
cost. The PHS will provide a volunteer docent to join you, your family and friends, on your boat. You provide the skipper. The Historical Society docent provides you and your guests with the popular, one-hour history cruise commentary as your boat takes a slow lap around part of Pentwater Lake, the channel, and briefly into Lake Michigan.
There is no cost or tipping, but donations to the History Museum are most appreciated.
Interested boat owners should send inquiries to phs.tours@pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org.
Be sure to indicate the date(s) and time(s) you have in mind.
“History 101” from the shore
Learn about the history of Pentwater at the Channel Lane Park, scheduled during the month of June on Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:30am.
Contact: phs.tours@pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org
How many shipwrecks lie off Pentwater?
Over forty shipwrecks have occurred along Pentwater beaches. None were more tragic than the 1940 Armistice Day sinkings, which drowned 59 Great Lakes sailors. On that black night in November, a storm with sustained winds of 80 mph, and gusts exceeding 110 mph, caught three massive steel lake freighters just off Pentwater.
The two largest, the Anna C. Minch and Wm. B. Davoc, sank with all hands. Nearby, a third freighter, the Novadoc, with 17 of its crew still aboard, was being slowly pounded to pieces by waves estimated to have reached 30 feet in height. Local fishermen carried out the rescue of the Novadoc crew and became national heroes. The Pentwater Historical Society museum has a collection of artifacts commemorating the storm and rescue