The Hand-Off


The end of week three is approaching. My replacement boat operator, Jill, has spent the past week at the Rock, scraping and painting and scraping and painting, along with Jeff and Scott. This was Scotts second week as crew leader. Reports are that he keeps everyone working hard, as evidenced by the fact that all objectives for each week were met, and the teams still had almost two full days to enjoy Barnum Island. 

Crew Leader Scott, Cameraman Jeff, and Boat Captain Jill

Jill is also a veteran, working her fifth year at the lighthouse, but also as the boat operator that originally brought the Rock Hopper out for its first season on the Island. She’s going to do the same this year, but in reverse - bringing it back to Grand Portage at the conclusion of next week. However, this will be her first time ferrying volunteers out to the lighthouse. Hopefully this relatively calm weather holds.

It’s obvious she has experience working in the field on environmental projects for the EPA, some of those projects requiring boating experience. Even though she didn’t grow up boating, it seems she’s taken to it, as she looks forward to every excursion at the wheel.

Jeff is another first time volunteer, like me. Coming from North Dakota, he’s been enjoying his retirement from a long career as National Park Service Park Ranger and Park Manager at Lake Sakakawea (say that three times real fast.) That’s a lake about 180 miles in length and about a mile across. He’s using some of that retirement for hiking and exploring other parks, including Isle Royale last year. It’s there he was bitten by the lighthouse bug just by passing it on the way in on the Voyager. He was not disappointed, feeling very rewarded by looking back on all they accomplished, finding all of the hard work worth it. We can’t wait for his pictures, since he’s quite a capable amateur photog, and those that we saw were stunning. It’s not just the camera, but rather, as in the case of Dirk - mentioned in a previous post - it’s more importantly the eye. The flare for composition and perspective. I think you just have that or you don’t.



Three weeks, each with an outstanding crew with good karma between them, all objectives accomplished, led by strong leaders who know how to get the job done. It’s been a real pleasure to serve with them, and I hope we can do it again together in the future.

So many aspects of this experience have surpassed my expectations. While the comforts of running water, a toilet, and limitless electricity are missing, the accommodations in the cabin were immensely comfortable, and the feeling of living in the past palpable. You could almost hear the Andrews kids playing in the woods. No wait, those were some modern day Sivertson kids playing across the harbor. Though a small island, pieces of history could be found in the boat houses or at some sites like the Johns Hotel restoration. There was even an AMERICA life jacket in the Barnum boathouse that we hope can be restored at some point. The life jacket AND the boat house, that is. The cabins and fish houses on Washington Island also had a number of historical artifacts that will hopefully be preserved. Certainly if Jeff Sivertson has anything to do with it they will.

And of course we expect that the Rock of Ages Lighthouse will be restored to its 1930’s condition so others can feel that sense of history as they tour the massive structure. A lot of work is yet to be done to get to that point. A lot of work that will require a lot of money. If you are inclined, please become a member of the Society to lend your support. The more members they have, even at minor contribution levels, the more voice they will have when trying to acquire grants. And grants are what’s going to be needed to seal the outside of the lighthouse to prevent the water penetration, and to build a dock that will allow safe visits by park goers.

And what the heck, perhaps you want to find yourself inside the lighthouse, living history and working with some great people to achieve next years planned project goals.

Just got some of Jeff Keller's pictures, added into this post.


Jeff's Eye

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