TAHS Featured Program: The Mostly True Story of Dick Bassett: Traverse City's First Celebrity

The goal of the Traverse Area Historical Society is to share local history of Traverse City and the Grand Traverse region. This is a recording of the January 22, 2023 program: The Mostly True Story of Dick Bassett: Traverse City’s First Celebrity.

Hear the mostly true story of Traverse Bay’s own hermit Dick Bassett, a Civil War veteran who became a viral celebrity in an age of new media — the 1890s. We’ll explore new research which shows a fuller picture of the man who homesteaded the small island on the bay that would come to bear his name and how he became a figure of national fascination.

Speaker Bio:
Jordan Owen is a writer, educator, and sailor living in Traverse City who currently works as the General Manager of the Grand Traverse Yacht Club. Holding Bachelor’s and Masters’s degrees from Indiana University in American History, Jordan has worked both on and off the water for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Industry, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Quantum Sails. He is also a Past Commodore of the Grand Traverse Yacht Club and the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation.

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