Return to the Light


Researching Isle Royale history over this past winter, often from the notes and files of my writer and publisher father-in-law, enhanced memories of my time in Washington Harbor last summer. Living and walking among the cabins, fish houses, and boat houses of Washington and Barnum Islands, boat trips to the Rock of Ages lighthouse, and visits to the site of the shipwreck America brought some of that history to life for me. 

It was so enjoyable, rewarding, refreshing (read: cool), and informative (thanks to descendants of the Sivertson fishing family), that I'm returning again as a volunteer this year. The Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society (ROALPS) was desperate enough to ask me to run the Rock Hopper workboat again to move supplies and work crews back and forth to the lighthouse for another season. 


Plans were to "Paint the Rock" this season. Over the winter, as part of their fundraising, I wrote a couple of articles to support publicity efforts. One, A Rock for the Ages, was published in Lake Superior Angler magazine. Another, Volunteers Rock, is still out for publication, probably not until next off-season. 

The project would have meant transporting contractors and lots of supplies and equipment, with the end result being the protection of the lighthouse and all the previous interior work from further water incursion (see Paint the Rock). 

Unfortunately, very late in the planning and scheduling the National Park Service determined, based on their recent assessment of the condition of the lighthouse exterior, that additional work needed to be specified. Because of the late date and the additional expense, ROALPS decided to postpone the project to next year.

That means I'll have more time over nearly five weeks to assist the neighbor Washington Harbor Preservation Group in their island projects, explore the area, and rekindle more memories. That's "living the dream" in my book.

For more details on my previous experience, read from last year's "Washington Harbor" blog:




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