Located nearby Washington Island's only inland lake, Little Lake, Jacobsens Museum was constructed in 1931 by Jens Jacobsen (1867 – 1952) to house his collection of local natural and historical artifacts. He was also a craftsman, creating models of boats he would have seen sailing around the Island during his lifetime, and producing beautiful and intricate pieces of scrollwork, which are also displayed in the museum.

Adjacent to the museum are two more hand-built cabins. One, on its original site, was where Jens Jacobsen spent his summers living by Little Lake looking after his museum and the vacation cabins he rented out around the lake.

The other cabin was built and used by the economist Thorstein Veblen (1857 – 1929) who was born in Wisconsin of Norwegian parents. Veblen first came to Washington Island because he wanted to learn Icelandic but came back regularly over many summers. He used this cabin for writing on its original site on land he owned on the west side of Little Lake.

Around the parking lot there are some large items salvaged decades ago from area shipwrecks, including the rudder from the Louisiana, most of which still lies near Schoolhouse Beach.

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The Maritime Museum is housed in two former fishing sheds on Lake Michigan in what was an Island fishing community, now close to where the Karfi ferry runs to Rock Island State Park. Jackson Harbor is also where the Island’s only current commercial fisherman mores his boat. This museum tells the stories of Islanders and their water activities which, in addition to fishing, include our ferry, ice harvesting, trading by ship, wrecks, and the coast guard.