Century Old Message in a Bottle Discovered In Michigan

A century old message in a bottle was recently discovered by a Michigan diver, and now he plans to find the surviving descendants of the note’s authors in hopes that they will attend an event next month put on by the Historical Society.

Dave Leander discovered the bottle last year in about 4 to 6 inches of dirt in nearly 30 feet of water in the vicinity of where the Tashmoo steamship docked in the St. Clair River. Inside the bottle was a note dated Jun 30, 1915 written by Selina Pramstaller and Tillie Esper that simply states, “Having a good time at Tashmoo.” Tashmoo Park was once a favorite summer getaway for city residents.

Interestingly, the bottle was uncovered almost 97 years to the day it was actually written. Since his find, Leander has been working to locate the descendants of Pramstaller and Esper because he wants to extend an invitation to next month’s Tashmoo Days - he believes if they were still alive, the authors of the note would have wanted to attend.

Dave’s wife, Pam Leander, says that while there are no immediate plans to give the message in a bottle to the historical society museum, the bottle will be on display at the Tashmoo Days.

For more information about this historical discovery, click here.