In celebration of Christopher Columbus Smith’s 163rd birthday (May 20, 1861), enjoy a reprint from Number 1, Volume 2 of The Brass Bell published in 1975 by the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club.
This issue featured Miss Belle Isle, at the time it was the oldest known operational Chris-Craft in existence, built in 1923 in Algonac, Michigan by Chris Smith & Sons Boat Co. This article is reprinted with permission of the CCABC and provided by the archives of the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.
Would you like to see Miss Belle Isle yourself? She was donated by the Chris-Craft Corporation to the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia and can be seen today in their International Small Craft Center.
