July 8, 2021

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The resident keepers, Bruce & Kathy reported in last night: “Going on 24 hours of rain – everything is holding together.” They took photos of how high the waves were down by the boathouse. While the water is down from the records, it’s still high. They report dampness on the floor of the 1867 office around the plumbing stack, a new problem to be dealt with.

Meanwhile, back on the mainland, Gwen and Doug Noren handed off a tower window sash they had transported off the island on their July 2 trip. Like other sash from the tower, it came back in pieces. It will take a talented carpenter, but it should be restorable.

 

July 2, 2021

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Our fourth work team headed to the island this morning aboard Gwen and Doug Noren’s boat Victory. Texas-based volunteers Kathy & Bruce Rollins are beginning a 3+ week residency, their fifth time serving as keeper volunteers. Doug and his friend Scott hoisted an acetylene torch up the skeletal tower in an attempt to free the tower stairway window stops that have defied several previous attempts to remove them. A north wind and the mass of the metal tower prevented them from being able to heat the stops enough to remove them. They’ll try again in a few weeks when they come back to pick up the Rollins.

July 1, 2021

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Sometimes dreams come true. In 2008 when we first visited the station, the 1867 lighthouse windows were covered with plywood. The “lean to” had mostly collapsed. The interior was dark. Lead paint chips crunched underfoot. The place smelled of mouse droppings. In 2014, when I retired, it was, unfortunately, much the same.

My husband, John, asked whether we could do something.

We started with windows, getting a grant to get a class on window restoration taught by local preservation expert, Steve Stier. We got involved in fundraising, helping allow the group to engage contractor Jerry Spears to reconstruct the “lean to” exterior. The DNR helped us with a materials grant to help get the space set up for volunteer housing. Andy Thomas of Thomas & Milliken replaced the decrepit front door. We learned how to safely remediate lead paint. Volunteer Peter Riddell begin recreating missing shutters. Carl Johnson has been our windows “go to” guy. Naomi Nowland and her husband Scott came from Iowa to do the initial whitewashing in 2018. Many, many other volunteers have contributed parts and pieces. This past week, Old Country Painting & Restoration completed an engagement doing tuckpointing, painting & the remaining whitewashing. It is truly a dream come true!

June 28, 2021

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Team 3 headed out June 26 on a foggy Saturday morning for a three-day stay at the station. The team was headed by Cathy Allchin, with support from volunteers Peter Koeppen and Kailie Sjoblom and captain Joerg Rothenberger. Passenger Mark Lee rounded out the crew, heading out to assist contractor Carl Behrend with tuckpointing. This is the fifth light Mark has worked on. Lightkeeper carried a substantial collection of paint, caulk and mortar repair supplies to supplement the originally planned materials. Despite uncooperative weather, the project is coming along and the results are spectacular! As is often the case at the station, the project has been more difficult than expected. We’d seen the long unpainted soffit boards were in rough shape when we had been out earlier in June. We’d told Carl to “just do the best you can” given the circumstances. This consummate professional has done just that! He is absolutely doing the best he can including replacing missing wood, caulking, and applying additional paint to protect the old, dry, and shrunken wood. Where we’d specified whitewashing, he offered to tuckpoint first (which is the proper way to do things, we’d had to whitewash without tuckpointing on the volunteer portion of the project given we lacked the skills and this is one of those things it is better not to do than do so poorly.) He and Mark are going back and doing the work we were unable to do and then touching up the whitewashing. We cannot imagine working with more competent and conscientious folks. And, of course, the FILA team worked hard too, despite rainy weather. More to come…

June 20, 2021

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Writing while taking a break from the frenetic activity of offloading Lightkeeper and the painter’s work boat to sit quietly and reflect on the beauty that surrounds me under the canopy of trees. The lighthouse tower awaits its fresh coat of whitewash. There’s activity down at the docking site, where we pulled up the pontoon boat. Kathy and I prepped for a Saturday night supper of beef and chicken kabobs, and tinfoil potatoes with vegetables to be grilled over a charcoal fire. Sounds of sawing are coming from the Assistant Keepers Quarters where new volunteer Pete is busy repurposing wood into an additional bunk frame. Voices of Cathy and John floating down from the 1867 tower…and the “cookie” (Kathy) is back to survey her domain.

Evening by the fire, listening to Carl’s songs and stories of the UP…with a hearty breakfast Sunday and additional tasks accomplished. Thanks to Eric Allchin for contributing his outstanding biscuits and gravy. They paired nicely with fresh fruit, yogurt, and scrambled eggs by chief bottle washer Linda. Cathy A. attacked weeds at the gravesite. Pete began clearing the walks. The painters have rigged a system to get lake water up to the lighthouse and have started to work. Our FILA team returned to Northport on a fine Sunday afternoon closing out our second work trip to the island.

June 13, 2021

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A team of Cathy Allchin, Brian Freiberger, Jim Greenwell, Joerg Rothenberger and Karen Wells opened the station during their June 11 – 13 work trip. They mowed around buildings, installed a historic screen door, fixed a window, assessed materials requirements for later projects and, importantly, began the long process of digging out the boathouse.

April 29, 2021

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We haven’t been out yet, but shipwreck explorer/photographer Dusty Klifman sent us pictures from a recent visit.  Good news: the boathouse remains intact. Bad news: there’s significant stone build up around the building, putting pressure on the boathouse double doors. If you are a boater and can get out there, could you help us out and help remove stone from in front of the doors?

September 30, 2020

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Late season teams included MSU Extension Hops expert Rob Sirrine and his son, Waylon, who tagged and collected specimens from six hops plants. He’ll perform DNA and chemical analysis to help understand the era in which the plantings were done and the varieties present. The final team, led by Phil von Voigtlander, delivered a pre-constructed barrier, equal in height to stone thrown up during the 2019 winter, which was installed in an attempt to protect the Boathouse doors from further damage.

August 31, 2020

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August saw a number of visits to the island including a delivery of building materials via Nahma, the National Park Service landing craft. This was coordinated with the arrival of the second YouthWork team, lead by Bill Watson. His team framed and sided the storage barn, painted, removed stone from the boathouse area, rebuilt benches at the fire ring and cleared around buildings.

Next up was a team of volunteer carpenters from South Bend, IN. Key projects included roofing the barn and constructing doors, installing the lower-front shutters on the 1867 lighthouse, installing a restored screen door, and performing extensive plaster stabilization in the Assistant Keeper’s Quarters. They were followed by our first all women’s team who painting the barn, painted the 1867 lighthouse lantern room, swept buildings, organized tools and discovered a historic garden.

July 31, 2020

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On July 21, leader Rick McGee led the first YouthWork team of the season to the island. His team re-planked a picnic table, sorted and relocated materials from the Boathouse to the Fog Signal Building, built storage racks, repaired the hasp on the Fog Signal Door, cleared the building site for the storage shed and built a cobble path to facilitate material delivery.