Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum

Visit the Ashtabula Maritime Museum, the former home of the Ashtabula light keepers and the Coast Guard Chief, built in 1871/1898. We have seven (7) rooms full of displays, models and artifacts.

The museum contains models, paintings, maritime artifacts, photos of early Ashtabula Harbor, ore boats and tugs, miniature hand-made brass tools that actually work, and the world's only working scale model of a Hulett Ore Unloading Machine. Construction has begun in 2010 to build interactive model train layouts of the Ashtabula Harbor circa 1940-50.

Then step inside and imagine sailing away in our authentic pilot house from the lakeboat the Steamer Thomas Walters. Also view our U.S. Navy ship display of the U.S.S Ashtabula, the original Ashtabula Lighthouse's Fourth (4th) Order Fresnel lens built in 1898 and the display of the Ashtabula Car Ferry.

The museum also provides an expansive view of the commercial & recreational Ashtabula Harbor. Watch actual lakeboats loading and unloading coal & iron ore on the commercial dock. Watch the Bascule liftbridge open and close to let power & sailboats pass through.

There are outside displays and picnic tables are available.

The gift shop includes nautical items such as: jewelry, maritime and railroad books, mugs, lighthouse slates, wooden model boat kits, miniature boats, "Scaasis" lighthouses, shipwreck charts, post cards, lighthouse writing paper and Ashtabula Lighthouse pictures. We also have "Ashtabula Lighthouse", "Lake Erie Lighthouses", "Lakeboats" and "Edmund Fitzgerald" Tee-shirts along with many other items.

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