A Brief Tour of the Lighthouse





The mission of the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society, in part, is to establish, support and promote efforts in the preservation and restoration of the Rock of Ages Lighthouse.

I had a chance to briefly tour the inside of the object of that mission recently. 

My normal visit to the Rock consists of getting to the dock (not incidental), holding on to the dock while people and things are loaded/off-loaded, and sometimes hanging around when conditions are perfect and there's someone available to monitor and fend off the Hopper. This is the view from the back of the Hopper looking up at the lighthouse.


The stairway up to the lighthouse is not incidental, either:





One this day conditions were perfect. What I found when I toured the lighthouse was:

  • Lots of work done.
  • Lots of work to yet be done.
  • A very wet and humid environment, coming from being closed up those many intervening months.
  • Spectacular views.
  • Rustic living conditions for the volunteer crew.
  • Remnants of history.
  • Dark spaces.

The dark spaces come from the fact that some floors have no natural outside light, nor any powered light. A headlamp or flashlight required. You can see that from following picture of the sub-cellar:


Sleeping conditions for the volunteers have improved considerably since the beginning of the project, I'm told. An example here are the comfortable beds. I'm also told that it can be quite cold and humid in those rooms.



In another room, you can see the progress being made on the walls and floor:




The Watch room is just below the light, and the amazing views afforded by that pinnacle above.




And about that pinnacle (thanks again, Dirk):










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preserving the Memories

Image
  Back to the Rock The six horse sailing motor had been pushing our small sailboat through the fog for a couple of hours when my father announced we should be arriving any moment. As he said that, the fog horn that we had been tracking gave another blast that sounded very near by, but from exactly which direction was hard to know. Just then, at a distance that relieved my mother, a majestic lighthouse perched on a lonely small rock emerged out of the fog. Distance was important because the light marked an area of rocks and reefs that had sunk a number of ships in the past. Relief also to us kids because it meant we were close to our destination of Isle Royale, and that soon we’d be getting off of that 22 foot sailboat.  Rock of Ages lighthouse, a tall tower that sits on a small rock at the southwest end of Isle Royale, is the gateway to the Isle of many smaller islands, coves, and bays with great protection from the big lake. To me, when I thought of how the 137 foot, ten story tower m
Read more

A New Crew for Week Four

Image
Mary’s name was called out by the captain of the Voyager for boarding. I remember the name from the Volunteer Schedule, so I could identify at least one of my fellow Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society volunteers. My name was called soon after, so I followed her to the engine room, where she sat on one of the engines. Rachael, our crew lead on week one, had told me that if it’s cold on the lake during a crossing, you could find warmth by sitting on the metal enclosure covering the Voyager engine.  “Hello, Mary,” I introduced myself, “it seems like you’ve been on this voyage as a Rock of Ages volunteer before.” She shared that she had volunteered on the light several times. It turns out she is a board member of the ROALPS, which we never let her forget as we accused her of being an “undercover Boss.” In answering my question, that I would ask of every volunteer I would meet, she began to share how far things had come since she first started working in the lighthouse. The more
Read more

Barnum Island

Image
Barnum Island  “The fishing families were represented by first generation Scandinavian immigrants who came to America in search of a dream. The cottage families came mostly from the “new money” well to do, who earned their wealth in the grain, and mining industries. These two groups with different backgrounds of heritage, language and wealth learned the lessons of dependency  generated by the isolated, harsh and unpredictable environs of Lake Superior and Isle Royale.” David C. Barnum in his introductory letter to the Isle Royale Original Families Association, 2002 Since the boat operator for the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society spends most of his or her time standing by on Barnum Island, and since I was aware of the Barnum and Sivertson families in visits as a child, I looked forward to learning more about Washington Harbor history.  Beyond the Rock of Ages lighthouse and its surrounding hazards of reefs and rocks lie several welcome islands at the mouth of Washington
Read more