A parting shot from the lantern room team prior to their departure last Thursday.
Tom McBride photo
Few people will appreciate how much effort this required. We at FILA do and are very thankful for the work and talents of lantern team members Jeff Brearly, Barb Falkenhagen, Tom McBride and Marty Rosalik.
After some “onshore” work on a number of issues uncovered by the resto, a subset of this team plans to make yet a third trip to the station later this summer. Stay tuned!
Two work trips were completed at the lightstation during the month of June—the third annual “women’s trip” (starring Linda P., Cathy A., Kathy S., Sandra W., and a newcomer to the island, Jen B.), and the painter’s trip with Kathy S., Audrey O., and contractor Mark Lee. (I can’t help myself about the bunny ears–this was up at Faro in Northport before we started the trip, when we were all still well rested and ready!)
Much brush was cleared during the women’s trip; the secondary firepit was placed near the summer kitchen; sidewalks were edged and moss scraped; lawns were mowed; weeds were whacked; poison ivy was sprayed; the Summer Kitchen saw a deep cleaning (ask Kathy S. about her ‘mouse hunter’ stories), and much work was done to improve the landing site for the Bear (Manitou transit’s landing craft). Jen B. braved the chilly Lake Michigan waters while Cathy A. and Linda P. filled many buckets of rocks—back breaking work indeed! Meanwhile, intrepid volunteer Sandra W. became the queen of the brush-hog—clearing much of the area behind the lighthouse. Sandy, Jen, and Kathy cleared the gravesite as well.
Of course, standard cooking, cleaning, sweeping, and mouse mania consumed much of our time as well, although Sandy and Jen had some time to explore the West Beach (ah, the energy of youth!) (That’s Jen in the approximately 56 degree water!)
Even Georgie girl was exhausted at the end of the trip!
The painting team stayed quit
e busy as well on the second trip in June, with major painting projects being scraping and applying lead-remediating paint to the hallway of the 1867 building, touching up the parlor, and scraping and painting the oil house.
Mark Lee replaced the dangerous sidewalk sections leading to the summer kitchen, installed the mold moss guards, and cleaned the forest growing out of the gutters of the Assistant Keepers quarters.
Nor did they neglect the landscaping, mowing, weed whacking, operating the water system and pump, and spraying for poison ivy.
During their free time, they even invented a form of “extreme croquet” to be played on the island!
This was a significant day in the restoration of the 1867 lighthouse. The team of Marty, Tom, Barb & Jeff installed the first of nine replacement panels to open up the lantern room.
Why nine? The decagonal lantern room had a single glass panel remaining when FILA began restoration in 2006. Here’s what FILA faced in the early days:
Traverse City Record Eagle, Greg Johnstone photo
Amongst FILA’s early projects was enclosing the lantern room with plywood panels (one with a clear insert) to prevent further interior damage, a project initiated by long term volunteer Phil vonVoigtlander.
In the early 2020’s, Karen Wells, Jim Greenwall & Ben Eichorst inserted acrylic inserts into additional panels to further open up the lantern room. Working within the constraints of the plywood covers and their bracing provided light and improved views, but was far from ideal.
Inserts installed in plywood panels, Elijah Allen photo, 2023
Tom & Marty developed a 5-year plan for lantern room restoration after their first trip in 2022. They removed the deteriorated sheet metal at the base of the lantern room in 2023. They did further prep and planning over the 2023/2024 winter. And now, with the assistance of Barb & Jeff, they;ve installed the initial full panel this afternoon. Let there be light!
Tom removing an existing panel. Barb Falkenhagen photo.
Eventually, we’d, of course, like to install replica glass, but not knowing the obstacles that awaited this project, acrylic panels were practical interim step. In fact, after 157 years, each opening will need custom fit glass due to rust and other imperfections in the frames.
Huge kudos to this team!
We recently added content to the website highlighting the station’s head keepers and many of their assistants. The new South Fox Lightkeepers page can be reached from a link on the “History” page.
Research found a number of previously unknown photos plus the identify of those shown in this iconic 1939 photo: Keeper Will Green, the dog Trenoli and Assistant James Brotherson.
Newly discovered data (thanks to the online archives of Grand Traverse Lighthouse) disclosed Keeper Peter Timmer served until 1953, when a medical leave prompted his retirement and Allen Cain was promoted. A number of lighthouse sites show Cain taking charge in 1948.
Another research finding is that the red brick building typically referred to as the “Assistant Keepers’ Quarters” housed the Head Keepers in the large apartment starting in the McCormick era (1915-1921). Assistants typically either lived in the “old lighthouse” or in one of the two smaller apartments. The final Keeper, Allen Cain, was an exception. For whatever reason, he chose to remain in the old lighthouse where he’d lived for a number of years even though his promotion entitled him to the newer, more spacious quarters.
Links to oral histories and known online articles about our keepers have been included.
We continue to learn. If you have information or photos about the two lights and her keepers, please get in touch with us.
If you are interested in booking a private charter to the South Fox Island Light Station, email southfoxisland@gmail.org with subject “TRIP”. We are working with Manitou Transit in Leland, MI to finalize details. Each trip will last approximately five hours (1.5 hours out, 2 hours on island, 1.5 hours return). All visitors must be members of FILA (http://southfoxlighthouse.org/membership). Scheduling is always weather-dependent and at the captain’s discretion.
Today’s Stamp Flashes announced the newly created South Fox Light Station stamp:
Stamp Flashes is the official newsletter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society Passport Club. Information on sites participating in the lighthouse stamp program can be found at: https://uslhs.org/passports
The North Point Lighthouse Museum is featuring Box 739 in their July 10 lecture about the lighthouse library system presented by a professor of Victorian literature.
https://northpointlighthouse.org/lecture-series
Box 739 started its life with a visit to Eagle Bluff, WI from August 1, 1898 to May 26, 1899. It came to the east side of the lake also, including South Fox Island. A log kept track of where it’d been making sure recipients got new material. There were over 700 of these boxes circulating nationally by 1893.
Some of the authors remain familiar including James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and Daniel Defoe. Others are less well-known, Bayard Taylor’s “At Home and Abroad: A Sketch-book of Life, Scenery, and Men” is available on Google Books if you’d care to read part of it:
https://books.google.com/books?id=LuiBEI4LhBsC&pg=PP13&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
While fiction was the most popular, there were also biographies and books on history and science.
In a day before radio or telephone, these were an important source of entertainment and enlightenment at remote lighthouses.
An article based on local diver and photographer Chris Roxburgh was featured in the May 2, 2024 Milwaukee Sentinel with great images from around the island.
He has additional photos on his facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisRoxburghDiver.
An article that highlighted the South Fox “new light” was the cover story for the Winter 2024 edition of the United States Lighthouse Society’s publication “The Keeper’s Log.” The story describes these onshore skeletal lights that were used on the East, West and Gulf Coasts as well as the Great Lakes.
Skeletals were a relatively low-cost way to build taller towers versus traditional masonry. They were lighter in weight, another advantage over traditional masonry, especially in coastal zones where foundations could be problematic. They could also be moved, a factor when a number of lights had succumbed to changes in shorelines else become obsolete by changes in shipping needs. The “Sanibel class” had a square pyramidal design.
There are a lot of interesting stories about these 17 “sister” lights.
The schooner carrying the ironwork for the initial two lights in 1884 went aground on a shoal a few miles short of arrival in SW Florida. Clearly the light was needed! (Fortunately, two lighthouse tenders rushed to the scene and salvaged the majority of the parts.)
The Waackaack, NJ light (built by a Detroit firm) detoured to the 1893 Columbian Exposition (shown behind the Viking Ship which was also a popular attraction at the fair) before making its way to its ultimate home.
Only one of the lights succumbed to nature: Chandeleur Island, built on a barrier island off New Orleans, had been undermined by prior storms and finally succumbed during Hurricane Katrina.
Sanibel Island’s Light lost a leg during 2022’s Hurricane Ian. The storm washed away surrounding buildings. The leg has since been repaired.
These were sturdy lights.
And, of course, there’s the South Fox Island skeletal. Installed in 1905 on Sapelo Island, GA, it was relocated in 1933/34. The editor kindly featured a number of our images.
Many thanks to members Barb Falkenhagen, David Lightner, and Steve Webb for photos and Karen Wells for writing & researching the article.
Our YouTube channel has expanded! We’ve recently added content from presentations, photos, videos, Facebook posts and articles from our archives.
Here’s some of what’s available:
Presentations covering restoration progress
Scenic and seasonal photos from volunteers over the years such as these sunset photos
Documentation of keepers including the station’s Native American keepers
Additional topics include station history, buildings, shipwrecks and related lighthouses. Check us out https://www.youtube.com/@southfox9428
Where appropriate, we’ve included related 3rd party content into our playlists. If you know of something we’ve missed that’s worth sharing, please let us know.