LOUDONVILLE — The Cleo Redd Fisher Museum’s speaker series returns Monday,
Oct. 19 with a program exploring one of the Great Lakes’ most enduring mysteries.
Christopher Gillcrist, director emeritus of the National Museum of the Great Lakes, will present “The Edmund Fitzgerald: What Really Happened?” from 7 to 8 p.m., opening the museum’s upcoming lineup.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place in the CRF Museum Lecture Hall, 203 E. Main Street in Loudonville. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
When the Edmund Fitzgerald entered service in 1958, she was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes.
Built to transport iron ore, she became a familiar presence on the lakes, earning a reputation for her size and record-breaking loads during an 18-year working career. On Nov. 10, 1975, the ship sank during a fierce storm on Lake Superior, taking the lives of all 29 crew members.
The disaster became one of the most widely remembered tragedies in Great Lakes history, thanks largely to Gordon Lightfoot’s song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” which brought her story to audiences around the world.
Gillcrist will examine the shipping history that led to the Fitzgerald, her remarkable career, and several prevailing theories about her sinking.
Drawing on his background in Great Lakes history, he will consider why the question of what really happened remains compelling decades later.
Gillcrist served as executive director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes for 25 years and is the founder of CHG Consulting LLC.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from John Carroll University and completed advanced studies in the history of social policy at Case Western Reserve University.
For more information, contact the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum at 419-994-4050 or
info@crfmuseum.com.
