Alexandria now has a maritime museum over there near Big Ole, chock-a-block with boats, motors, fishing tackle and enough resort memorabilia and minnow buckets to recreate an entire Tarnow's Resort and Cottage Grove.At one time, Alexandria had a number of wooden boat manufacturers who created much of the fishing craft in use before aluminum and fiberglass took over.
A classic wooden fishing boat line was named Lady of the Lakes and was manufactured locally. The museum displays a number of them, but most interesting to Stan was the Lady of the Lakes rowboat manufactured in 1915. See the photo above of the display of the Lady in mint condition.
Rolfsruds, and other residents on Lake Andrew in the early 50s, will recall a leaky, red rowboat, plying the waters as a recreational toy for juveniles, often swamped or turtled. Turns out this classic graceful craft had seen much better days, when gentlemen fishermen were proud to row this beautiful boat to their favorite fishing spot in style.
When we got our lady, it had a rotten stern, so we had to put most of the weight toward the front to keep it from filling with lake water. There were four oarlocks, so, working together, we could develop some pretty good speed with the light-weight rowboat. One summer, Becky dreamed up an Egyptian Caravel, simply by placing boards across the bow, painting it pink and green and flying a couple of royal felt flags. No one claimed to be Cleopatra, but we doubtless provoked some chatter about local color amongst the tourists visiting from the sophisticated Twin Cities.
If you're in Alexandria, visit the museum. It's six bucks, but worth it for the nostalgia.
