The Christmas Tree Ship

One hundred years ago, Christmas trees were delivered from northern Wisconsin to cities throughout the state and Illinois by schooner. The schooner Rouse Simmons was loaded with 5,000 Christmas trees and bound for Chicago when she encountered a violent winter gale. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to withstand the waves, wind and ice and she sank off the coast of Two Rivers on November 22, 1912.

To commemorate the schooner, also known as the Christmas Tree Ship, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and the Door County Maritime Museum are celebrating Christmas the entire year.

An exhibition of Christmas Tree Ship paintings by maritime artist Eric Forsberg will be on display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, beginning June 22.
Rochelle Pennington, a best-selling author and lively storyteller, will host special Christmas Tree Ship conversations on Saturday, June 23 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and Sunday, June 24 at the Door County Maritime Museum.
Visitors will find commemorative ornaments, books on the Christmas Tree Ship and more under Christmas trees in the museum gift shops.

And, don’t miss Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers. The museum has an entire Christmas Tree Ship exhibit that includes the ship’s wheel and other significant artifacts, period newspaper articles and a video that documents the discovery of the shipwreck in 1971.

Plus, visit the village November 23-24 for a special weekend – performances of The Christmas Schooner, village tours, Christmas tea, carols, a tree lighting ceremony, parade and more.

Added in 2026

Historical marker for the Christmas Tree Ship. Photo: Notorious4life, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The page above was written for the centennial in 2012; the exhibits, talks and the November weekend it announces are long over. A few details are worth tightening.

Built: Milwaukee, 1868
Lost: November 1912, all hands
Last seen: off Kewaunee, Nov. 23, 1912
Wreck found: 1971, in 172 ft of water
NRHP: listed March 21, 2007
Protected by: Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary

The schooner sailed from Thompson Harbor near Manistique, Michigan, packed with about 5,500 trees for Chicago, slightly more than the 5,000 given above. The Kewaunee Life-Saving Station logged her at 2:50 p.m. on November 23, riding low with her flag at half mast; Two Rivers sent its power boat Tuscarora, which never found her. Captain Herman Schuenemann, known in Chicago as "Captain Santa," sold trees straight off the deck at the Clark Street Bridge. His widow Barbara and their daughters kept the business going for years afterward.

A Milwaukee diver, Gordon Kent Bellrichard, found the wreck in 1971 while searching for the steamer Vernon. Christmas trees are still in the hold. The ship's wheel and other recovered items are at Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers, as the original page says; the anchor stands at the entrance of the Milwaukee Yacht Club.

Sources: Wikipedia article "Rouse Simmons"; National Register listing 07000197; NOAA Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (read November 2026).

Questions visitors ask

Did the Rouse Simmons sink on November 22 or 23, 1912?

The original page says November 22. What is documented is that the Kewaunee Life-Saving Station sighted her in distress on the afternoon of November 23 and she was never seen again, so she went down on or after that date.

Where can I see artifacts from the Christmas Tree Ship?

Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers has the ship's wheel and a Christmas Tree Ship exhibit. The anchor is displayed at the Milwaukee Yacht Club.

Can divers visit the wreck?

Only with technical diving training: the hull sits at about 172 feet. It is also a protected site inside a national marine sanctuary, so treat it as look, do not touch.

Original text restored from the Wayback Machine capture of May 7, 2015. Typos and dead links were tidied; nothing else in the original section was rewritten. How this archive works.