Our history is intimately entwined with the space we inhabit.

The Great Lakes Museum is fortunate to be located on an national historic site that forms a considerable part of the Museum’s narrative.  It means that the Museum is able to at once share the story of the maritime heritage of Kingston and the Great Lakes, all the while connecting visitors to a physical piece of that history.

Established in 1975 by a group of local divers who sought to protect the artefacts of the shipwrecks they explored, the Museum occupied the Kingston Dry Dock property (formerly the location of the Kingston Shipyards Co.) from 1975-2016. The Museum was forced to vacate the property in 2016 when the federally-owned property was sold to a local developer, and moved to its storefront gallery location at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.

In August 2019, the Museum purchased the historic property following a gift from a local benefactor, and in October 2021 it moved back home. This set in motion our plans to create a new 21^st century Museum a reality. In 2023, another big step forward was the arrival of our museum ship the S.S. Keewatin which opens May 2024.