On this trip, the skies were clear, visibility was excellent, and the lake was calm. Perfect lighthouse viewing weather. But this time the Rock of Ages lighthouse looked different. It was a bright white, reflecting the sun and glowing on the horizon. In the past, folks remarked that it looked dull and dark, with a yellow tinge to the surface of the tower. What we saw on the Voyageur this time was a bit of freshly washed lighthouse, with its white paint freed from contamination. Evidence that the newly arrived contractor crew was successful in creating power with their generators, pumping water 100 feet up from the lake's surface, and working their pressure washers from a basket hanging from the gallery deck. The same deck that lighthouse keepers used to clean the outside of lantern room windows in the past.
That's the heart of the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society (ROALPS) projects this year - cleaning the tower so contractors can plug cracks and holes to reduce the migration of water into the tower. That, along with new porthole covers and floor vents to increase circulation, should help make opening the lighthouse each season a little less like entering a rain forest.
I was there to take over boat operator duties from Mark Morehead, who had initiated the new Rock Hopper II and opened the base camp cabin to be ready for the arriving crews. But more importantly, he had facilitated the moving of contractors and all of their equipment. Six trips to the light with 1,000 lbs of equipment and materials. As he tells it, he doesn't even remember falling into bed that night. While I was glad to miss that long day, I'll be facing the reverse of that migration, albeit with less freight, but all the way to Mott Island on the east side of Isle Royale, 45 miles away. Should be interesting.
So what? Why go through all this to save a lighthouse? Aside from the selfish pleasure of being on the lake, sharing in some history on Barnum Island, joining my friends in Washington Harbor, where does this lead? It's amazing what ROALPS has accomplished so far, especially given the limitations of funding and the engineered expectations of the Park Service. Recent assessments have chartered a course for tower preservation and dock replacement that carries a price tag many times those forecasted a short time ago - well beyond the fundraising capacity of the Society. Given the current environment, probably well beyond the capacity of the National Park Service, too. It's a question I'm contemplating, even beyond the lighthouse to Washington Harbor, which has several historical buildings likely to succumb to the elements in the not-too-distant future. Are they worth saving?
This year, as in the last three years, I will hear all kinds of fascinating stories of local history, many from those directly related to it, adding to the many I've already captured in raw form. It's a history I think many others would find equally fascinating, but one that will likely be lost even if it's documented somewhere for AI to find in the future. There's nothing quite like walking through it, seeing the evidence and imagining how people lived, how they survived, and understanding why they would even try in this environment. Some of their stories would be very enlightening and would justify the time and effort required to preserve this infrastructure.
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| Rock of Ages Lighthouse visitors |
I plan to share some of them in subsequent posts to see what you think.
Your selection of words capture the feeling of it perfectly!
ReplyDeleteCarry on Word Scribe….
Thanks for getting back to the blog. It’s interesting to read about the dedication of a few to save the history. Debbie
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