History of the Bavarian Belle

The Bavarian Belle began her life in 1981on the Mississippi River, in La Crosse, Wisconsin at La Crosse Boat Works.  Near completion of construction, she was taken down the Mississippi River and up the Ohio River to Evansville, Indiana.  She was fitted out and began operation as the Spirit of Evansville, a dinner-cruise and charter riverboat.  After 5 years in Evansville, the owners, Kentuckiana Packet Lines, took her down the Ohio, down the Mississippi and up the Arkansas River to North Little Rock, Arkansas.  She continued operating as a dinner-cruise and charter riverboat with the new name of Spirit of North Little Rock.  Fifteen years later, in 2000, she was purchased by Frankenmuth River Tours for sightseeing tours in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

Preparing the newly named Bavarian Belle for transport to Frankenmuth Michigan was the first of our major projects.  We (Captain Jene and two sons, Captain Stan and Captain Mitch) spent 3 months in Little Rock, Arkansas making modifications to and dismantling the Bavarian Belle for transport to Michigan.  Our first thought on transporting the Bavarian Belle, was to bring her north via water down the Arkansas River up the Mississippi River and up the Ohio River to Chicago, Illinois.  From there, we would either sail around the Great Lakes or have her put on a barge and towed to Saginaw Bay to Bay City, Michigan.  From there take her by truck to Frankenmuth.   A third option was to put her on a truck in Chicago and take her by land from Chicago to Frankenmuth.  Getting the Belle to Chicago was relatively easy, from there the three options got very dangerous (sailing around the Great Lakes) and got very expensive. 

The safest and most reasonable option, therefore, was to dismantle the Belle in Little Rock and place her on two flatbed trucks and transport entirely by land. Three months preparation was required to ready her for placement on the trucks.  The two trucks left North Little Rock in November of 2000.  Bad weather caused several delays on the trip to Michigan so the Belle and did not arrive in Frankenmuth, MI until late January, 2001.

Upon arriving in Frankenmuth, she placed in Frankenmuth's Heritage Park.  The months of February through May, 2001 were spent re-assembling, re-plumbing, re-powering and updating the Bavarian Belle to begin our first season in June, 2001.

The Bavarian Belle was lifted into the Cass River in June of 2001 where she has been operating as a sightseeing tour riverboat during the months of May through mid-October each year.

Our Goal

We are  a family operated company.  Our goal is to leave a lasting, positive impression on our customers by providing a high quality, entertaining, educational, reasonably priced experience on an authentic riverboat.