Nancy Jean Keeps a Watchful Eye Over the Harbor

BLACK RIVER HARBOR, MI - Thursday, September 11, 2008 - A hundred years ago, at the mouth of the Black River at Lake Superior, was a small fishing village. Every day, fishermen would prepare their nets, fire their engines, and set out into the most trecherous of the Great Lakes.

In 1928, to make way for a new county park at the Harbor, the villagers were forced from their lakeside homes. The Civilian Conservation Corps removed the last physical remains of the old village during the construction of the park in 1939. Now, the original Black River village is only in a memory.

A sole survivor quietly watched the little fishing village evolve through the years. A thirty-two foot wooden boat called the Nancy Jean served the Black River fishing fleet during the 1930's. She initially worked in the commercial fishing trade until 1940 and then began to work as a charter fishing boat until the 1950's. The Nancy Jean was abandoned in a woodlot near the old village. The recovered watercraft has her own story to tell.

The Nancy Jean is a gasoline launch custom built in 1913 by the Dan Kidney Boat Factory of DePere, Wisconsin. Dan Kidney was known as one of the finest producers of wooden boats in the early 20th century, and the Nancy Jean attests to Kidney's legacy of fine woodworking and master craftsmanship.