It’s lonely at Big Sable Lighthouse in wintertime
January 28, 2010
On a bone-chilling morning like today, it’s not too hard to put yourself in the probably none-too-warm shoes of Keeper Hans Hansen of the Big Sable Lighthouse, located at the wrong end of a nine mile walk from Ludington. Here’s his letter to Capt. C.E. Clark, USN, Lighthouse Inspector on September 19, 1887:
Please Sir, I wish to apply to you in regards to a change in location or in other words, if there is any chance for me to be transferred to some small Light. I have now served faithfully at this same Station for five long years lacking eight days, keeping the Light going every night the year around, and in them five years have been absent only three weeks. And this last year has been very hard on me on account I have had so many new men and each one I have to teach to care for the Light, and makes me feel very uneasy all hours of the night. The last man appointed is very quick and wants to learn. He is the best man that has been here for some time. He is a stranger to me. My children I should like very much to get them in school. Here is no school for miles. I prefer a small place where I can be alone with my family. I do not mind loosing [sic] Sixty dollars from my present salary. Would like best a place south from here but prefer best the west shore on Green Bay or would be glad to take some small place north of here. You would make us feel very happy. Please be so kind and do what you can.
You can get more stories from Lighthouses Short & Tall, learn about Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park and see tons more Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.
Check this out bigger in Tim’s Lake Michigan slideshow and stay warm people!
Cool Blue: Michigan Lighthouse Ice
January 9, 2010
Wind, waves and winter work create some amazing ice formations on Michigan lighthouses. To see some of them. click over to the Lighthouse Ice show from the Absolute Michigan pool!
See this photo of the St. Joseph light bigger or in Brian’s Lighthouse set (slideshow).
Turnip Rock, Port Austin and The Thumb
January 7, 2010
Turnip Rock, Port Austin, Michigan, photo by jensenl.
It’s been a while since Michigan in Pictures got out with the incomparable Lars Jensen, for my money one of Michigan’s best outdoor photographers.
His winter visit to The Thumb offers this photo and many more larger and he writes:
Turnip Rock and Kai standing on the “thumbnail” in Michigan’s thumb area. Unfortunately, this area is privately owned so Kai and I skied to it from the harbor at Port Austin (about 2.25 miles away) on Lake Huron. We then skied out to the Port Austin Lighthouse which sits out in the middle of the bay on a shallow shoal (about 2.5 miles from the shores of Port Austin). We saw all sorts of interesting ice formations along the way and had a great time on a cold and blustery day.
Click over to his site for the whole day of photos. Here’s more of Lars Jensen on Michigan in Pictures and I also recommend kicking back for his Michigan slideshow.
PS: Too cold for you? He has summertime photos in Kayaking the Thumb!
Fort Gratiot Lighthouse – Michigan’s Oldest Lighthouse
October 24, 2009
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.~Stephen Wright, photo by mjo62000.
The official Fort Gratiot Lighthouse site relates that:
The Fort Gratiot Lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in Michigan and the second oldest on the Great Lakes. The first lighthouse in this area was built in 1825 and was located approximately where the first Blue Water Bridge stands. De to poor construction and a storm, it collapsed in 1828. In 1829, a new lighthouse was built north of the military fort by Lucius Lyon, who later became one of Michigan’s first U.S. Senators. The new location made it easier for ships to spot as they entered the rapids at the head of the St. Clair River.
Originally seventy-four feet high, the white painted brick tower was extended to its present height of eighty-six feet in the early 1860s…
The green flashing light that was automated in 1933 may be seen for seventeen miles. The two-story brick lighthouse keeper’s house, with its hipped gable roof and pointed gothic porch, was built in 1874.
Today, a Coast Guard station and the lighthouse watch over one of the busiest waterways in the world.
You can see some historical photos at the link above and get lots more information at Fort Gratiot Lighthouse on Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light.
See this bigger in Mary Jo’s Lighthouses slideshow or check out the whole set!
Check out many more Michigan Lighthouse on Michigan in Pictures.
Eagle Harbor Light, photo by scherbis.
With 120 lighthouses, Michigan has more than any other state. This weekend (October 8-11, 2009) the annual Great Lakes Light House Festival (cubicle warning: music) returns to Alpena. The event features activities including lighthouse tours (aerial, boat or personal vehicle), entertainment and over 100 maritime related vendors including lighthouse preservation groups, artists and authors. Tim Harrison, Editor in Chief & Publisher of Lighthouse Digest Magazine and President of American Lighthouse Foundation says:
There is no other festival like it in the United States. The organizers have done a fantastic job of drawing both vendors and lighthouse buffs from around the globe to what has become the largest and best lighthouse festival in the nation. October is a wonderful time of the year to visit Michigan, with the beautiful fall colors, close proximity to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and lots of lighthouses, what more could one ask for?
Check this out bigger in Steven’s UP September set (slideshow) or his lighthouse slideshow. Be sure to also have a look at the 2000+ photo lighthouse slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool!
Storm waves over the Grand Haven Pier Light
October 2, 2009
DSC_0048-1 wr copy, photo by Heightened Senses [Dennis].
Lighthouse Friends says that the entrance to the Grand River in Grand Haven was originally marked by a tower near the south side , but that lighthouse was destroyed in a storm during the night of December 17, 1852. A second lighthouse was built in 1855 on a bluff overlooking the river and this light served until the pier lights were completed in 1905.
Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light has some historical information about the Grand Haven Pier Lights but unfortunately none of the great historical photos that make his site the bomb for Great Lakes Lighthouses. Terry does have some appropriate information about the distinctive catwalks:
Over the years, there were numerous renovations to both the lights and pier. In 1921, the pole that supports the flasher on the north pier was installed, and in 1922, the cast iron catwalk was installed to allow safe access to the tower and fog signal during storms. The original wooden pier facing on the pier was replaced with 900 tons of steel sheet pilings in 1954. A less welcome change in 1969 was the replacement of the old diaphone fog signal with a higher-pitched, and less romantic whistle.
In 1986, the Coast Guard became concerned that someone would become injured on the deteriorating catwalks, and scheduled for their demolition in June of 1987. Edward J. Zenko and his daughter Terry headed a group of volunteers calling themselves the “Save the Catwalk Committee,” and raised $133,000 to remove the wooden planks which formed the walkway, reinforce the iron supports, and install lights along the full length of the pier. Thus the catwalk was saved, and the lights illuminated for the first time on November 25, 1988. In all, $91,000 was spent on the improvements, with the remainder invested to provide sufficient income to meet ongoing maintenance costs. Sadly, Zenko died on December 31 1987, and never saw the fruits of his labor of love.
You can look in on the lighthouse and weather conditions via the Grand Haven Steelheaders Live Webcam. Some good links for the light can be found at Grand Haven Light on Wikipedia. The pier light has been deemed in excess by the Coast Guard and is being offered to eligible entities under the the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.
Be sure to check this out bigger and also check out the rest of the photos in Dennis’s 9.28.09 Grand Haven Storm set (slideshow). You might also enjoy the Grand Haven Light slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!
Grand Island North Lighthouse
September 3, 2009
Grand Island North Light 2, photo by Shawn & Brian Malone
The page on Grand Island North Lighthouse from Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light begins:
Eight miles in length, and three miles in width, Grand Island is the largest island on Superior’s south shore. Long known by fur traders for the natural harbor of refuge on the island’s southern lee, the North West Company established a post on the site of present day Munising in the late 1700’s, and subsequently the American Fur Company operated a post on the Island itself during the early decades of the nineteenth century. The hay days of “King Fur” were fading into memory when Abraham Williams, the island’s first permanent white settler arrived from Vermont in 1837 and set up homesteading in a couple of the old abandoned trading post buildings on the island’s south shore. As other settlers began arriving to eke an existence from the island’s shores, Williams established a trading post, blacksmith’s shop and sawmill on the island.
In 1853 Congress appropriated $5,000 for a new lighthouse at the top of a 175-foot cliff on the northern end of the island, but materials used were so inferior that the light had to be completely demolished and rebuilt in 1867. It served for almost 100 years before being decommissioned and sold to Dr. Loren Graham, author of “A Face in the Rock,” a chronicle of the rich native heritage of the island. There’s more great photos of the lighthouse including this one by Jeff Shook and a shot from 1905.
You can buy a copy of this photo right here and check out more of their Lake Superior lighthouses.
If you’re looking for some chilly reading on a warm fall day, The Surfer’s Journal is running a ten page story in their summer issue featuring photos that the Malones took at a Grand Sable Dunes surfing session in January of 2009.
Atmospheric Illusion – Fata Morgana
August 27, 2009
Atmospheric Illusion – Fata Morgana #1/3, photo by jimflix.
I’ll turn Michigan in Pictures over to Jim today to talk about a phenomenon that we see on the Great Lakes.
This strange visual / atmospheric effect was going on that early May evening above the Manitou Islands — like a double reflection at a certain height above the water. That’s the South Manitou Lighthouse.
It turns out this is a Fata Morgana — “an atmospheric mirage, commonly seen in frigid Polar regions, caused by complexly arranged thermal gradients, within a temperature inversion. The word, from Italian, means ‘Fairy Morgan’, and alludes to Morgan LeFay, King Arthur’s sorceress half sister, who legendarily had the power to create crystal palaces in the air.” See here for more details.
This was taken standing on the shore at Sleeping Bear Point. In this photo, noise was reduced and the color enhanced, but otherwise it’s unaltered. Here are two more photos taken the same night: one and two.
Be sure to check out the other photos Jim has linked above, see this bigger and explore his Manitou Islands set (slideshow)
Read more about the South Manitou Island Lighthouse from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and also about the South Manitou Island Lighthouse Project.
Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba, Michigan
July 13, 2009
Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba, Michigan, photo by snapshot 720.
Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light says that a movement for the construction of the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba began:
…with the completion of the Peninsula Railroad in 1864, which linked Escanaba to the iron mines of Negaunee, and the subsequent construction of ore docks in the harbor, it was clear that Escanaba was finally “on the map.” Realizing the need for a navigational aid to guide the growing maritime traffic, the Lighthouse Board again began calling for funding, and Congress responded with a duplicate of the earlier appropriation on July 2, 1864. A site for the light on Sand Point was selected soon thereafter…
By 1866, traffic entering and leaving Escanaba increased meteorically, and the Lighthouse Board determined that the harbor had grown to sufficient importance to warrant marking by a structure of greater significance than the originally proposed beacon. Estimating the construction costs of a suitable masonry structure to be $10,000, the Lighthouse Board requested an additional appropriation in its annual report for 1866. Evidently, there was considerable political support for the change as Congress appropriated an additional $9,000 for the improved structure on March 2, 1867.
The light is now managed as a museum by the Escanaba Historical Society – click for the details!
Be sure to check this out bigger and also his other lighthouse photos (slideshow)
Werwin15 sugests that you view it on black (or view it bigger).
The Sunrise Side Wine & Food Festival takes place next Saturday (July 18) at the Harrisville Harbor. It’s Northeast Michigan’s largest wine and food festival and features Michigan wines and culinary delights from area chefs.
I’ve never been but my vintner friends tell me it’s a really cool festival. Here’s a writeup from a few years ago:
Harrisville is the “almost” undiscovered jewel of the Sunrise Side. This friendly small town, halfway between Tawas and Alpena and be easily reached from both US-23 and M-72, offers a tree-lined Main Street filled with shops offering antiques, gifts, jewelry, fudge, ice cream and chocolates. Several restaurants provide everything from a casual outdoor lunch to fine dining.
In the past few years, the area has grown into a small artist colony, a favorite vacation spot for numerous artists and authors. Novelists Judith Guest’s and Fred Wolverton have each each used Harrisville as their book’s setting.
The best of Harrisville and its surrounding area, however, is absolutely free. A brief stroll through town will take you from the 100-year-old stone railroad depot past the mill pond with its working waterwheel , around the courthouse lawn lined with huge old maple trees, and – if your legs are up to it –through one of Michigan’s prettiest State Parks. Three historic bed and breakfasts are available, each with lake views, and a five-minute drive brings you to Sturgeon Point Lighthouse and the beautifully preserved 1800’s Bailey School House.
The Wine and Food Tasting weekend kicks off on Friday night, with a 50’s dance beneath the big tent. A real family event, the dance brings together everyone from small children to senior citizens, many in 1950’s costumes.
…As winter takes its sweet time shoving off, it’s nice to dream of relaxing with a glass of Michigan wine, a taste of London broil, brie or pate, and a relaxing view of Lake Huron. The Harrisville Wine and Food Tasting is one of those rare things that’s even better in reality.
Check out Harrisville Michigan in Wikipedia.
