siskokid
"Old" Michigan Island Light
Recently my wife, youngest granddaughter and I traveled up to the village of Bayfield in far northern Wisconsin to catch the shuttle boat out to Michigan Island, one of the Apostle Islands. There are two lighthouses on the island, the "old" light (the oldest light in the Apostle Islands) and the "new" light. We enjoyed a nice intimate tour with the volunteer lighthouse keepers and Ranger Fred as we were the only tourists there.
From the National Park Service website: In 1856, a Milwaukee contractor's crew came to the Apostle Islands with instructions to build a lighthouse. Plans originally called for the lighthouse to be built on Long Island, to guide ships to the port of LaPointe, on Madeline Island. However, for reasons that are not completely clear, a Lighthouse Service official ordered a last-minute change of plans, and the lighthouse was built on Michigan Island, instead. Made of rough stone, its exterior walls stuccoed and whitewashed, the new lighthouse combined a small, one-and-a-half-story keeper's dwelling with a low, conical light tower. The light on Michigan Island entered service in the spring of 1857, but was closed after only one year of operation. Evidence suggests that higher authorities in the Lighthouse Service repudiated the rash decision of their field representative, and ordered the hapless contractors to go back and erect a new lighthouse at the planned Long Island location. For more than a decade, the Michigan Island tower sat vacant, and in the harsh Lake Superior climate, it quickly began to deteriorate. In 1869, however, authorities decided that a lighthouse on Michigan Island might actually be useful, so $6000 was appropriated to repair the building and relight the light. The refurbished light was equipped with a three-and-a-half order Fresnel lens.
A cool way to view mine or anyone else's photostream is on fluidr.
"Old" Michigan Island Light
Recently my wife, youngest granddaughter and I traveled up to the village of Bayfield in far northern Wisconsin to catch the shuttle boat out to Michigan Island, one of the Apostle Islands. There are two lighthouses on the island, the "old" light (the oldest light in the Apostle Islands) and the "new" light. We enjoyed a nice intimate tour with the volunteer lighthouse keepers and Ranger Fred as we were the only tourists there.
From the National Park Service website: In 1856, a Milwaukee contractor's crew came to the Apostle Islands with instructions to build a lighthouse. Plans originally called for the lighthouse to be built on Long Island, to guide ships to the port of LaPointe, on Madeline Island. However, for reasons that are not completely clear, a Lighthouse Service official ordered a last-minute change of plans, and the lighthouse was built on Michigan Island, instead. Made of rough stone, its exterior walls stuccoed and whitewashed, the new lighthouse combined a small, one-and-a-half-story keeper's dwelling with a low, conical light tower. The light on Michigan Island entered service in the spring of 1857, but was closed after only one year of operation. Evidence suggests that higher authorities in the Lighthouse Service repudiated the rash decision of their field representative, and ordered the hapless contractors to go back and erect a new lighthouse at the planned Long Island location. For more than a decade, the Michigan Island tower sat vacant, and in the harsh Lake Superior climate, it quickly began to deteriorate. In 1869, however, authorities decided that a lighthouse on Michigan Island might actually be useful, so $6000 was appropriated to repair the building and relight the light. The refurbished light was equipped with a three-and-a-half order Fresnel lens.
A cool way to view mine or anyone else's photostream is on fluidr.