Beach goers at Grand Mere State Park in Berrien County are scratching their heads after a mysterious object recently washed to shore. Some say it's an old dock, while others seem to believe it's simply a big piece of sea wood. But if you visit the park, there's a contingent of folks holding out hope that it just may be much more.

Believe it or not, the roughly 10 by 25 foot wooden object may be an old ship. Experts say on average only one or two ships come crashing onto the Lake Michigan shoreline every year. But if you want to catch a glimpse of this one, make sure to pack your hiking boots!

Five times a week, with the decades blurring together, the Wadel family has paved a three mile path inside Grand Mere State Park.

"Oh I’ve been coming here since I was six years old,” Gail Wadel said during an afternoon hike with her family.

"As my family and I head out to Grand Mere, one of the first places we hit is Jacob’s Hill,” Gail’s husband Warren Wadel said. “From this hill you can see Middle Lake and then through the clearing you can see Lake Michigan,” Warren added.

Over the years the Wadel’s found prized treasures like arrowheads and sea glass.

"You’re always hoping to come down here and find something different,” Gail said.

And that's exactly what rolled onto shore Christmas week. Special in its shape, the object’s six-inch iron nails and aged wooden frame matches the model used for boats built during the 1800s.

"You can tell this once was a ship from where the wood curves in to make the hull,” Gail and Warren’s son Matt said as he pointed to the wooden object.

"It would be nice to know how it got here, who sailed on it, what they were carrying,” Gail questioned.

Experts with Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates say the wood could have been the hull to a large steamboat or the side to a schooner's yawl boat, used for shore trips. Even a much smaller Mackinaw boat used by olden fur traders isn't being ruled out.

So with family aerobics turned archeology adventure, the questions are mounting and time keeps slipping away.

"Just how long this will last? How long will we be able to see it when the ice shaft moves in during the wintertime? We won't know,” Gail concluded.

So far experts across the Great Lakes Region are only making preliminary estimates based on photos sent in from park visitors. No expert has been able to see the site firsthand just yet. The Wadel family hopes they'll get to it before the lake swallows the mystery object once again.