Condensed From the 10/10/99 issue of the "Detroit News and Free Press":

The Granite Island Lighthouse, located 10 miles out on Lake Superior, is being put on the market. The lighthouse sets on a 2.5 acre rock north of Marquette, Michigan, and has not been occupied for 60 years. The exterior walls of the structure are sound, but as might be expected, it is in rough shape, with the interior needed complete gutting and replacement.

Granite Island Light was built in 1868 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It will be sold by sealed bid with the deadline being Oct. 19th. you can get a bid form by calling (800) 755-1946. A 10% deposit is required by the 19th.

For photos of Granite Island, here is a link:

http://propertydisposal.gsa.gov/Property/PropForSale/SchProperty/ShowProperty.ASP?PropertyID=180

-Todd


[This message has been edited by Todd Shorkey (edited 10-10-99).]

What a cool old structure. Look's like a good candidate for a restoration project. This could be the future "Wacko Island"!

Wacko island? How about restoring it for a home for old retired wackos? Then the name would really fit.

foghornkeeper

[This message has been edited by foghornkeeper (edited 10-12-99).]

Hmmm, sure could use a bit of fixing up. 1 bedroom, 0 bathrooms - not much of a retirement home! Will be interesting to see how much it goes for.

MOMBO

As the saying goes, "Great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." It must get a wee bit chilly in the cooler weather months.

Bob

Bob's right, it would need to be used as a summer home. Now that's what I call a real fixer upper!


SaintWackoPaul '
Keep the Flame

I think Caveat Emptor applies here. Living in Minneapolis, Minnesnowta, gives me a very real idea of what wintering in Marquette, Michigan, is like.

Ah, yes, Marquette. The land of the 116 inch average snowfall. Brrrrrrrr.

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Bob Steinbrunn
Nautical Research Guild

For those of you interested:

The winning bid was $86,000.

The proud new owner states he will fix the place up and plans on offering tours.

Not a bad price IMHO

-Todd

A little more info:

The buyer is a Bay City Businessman! I live in Bay City! I need to get to know this man better.

He is also a longtime shipwreck explorer.

The lowest bid was $11. the winning bid was actually $86,003.

A great site to combine the next HL reunion with a LH restoration project. Let's all get back in touch with nature.

Jim

I like the idea, Doc, but I should probably do some work on my own house before someone else's. :-)

Now if we could do as suggested for a public- or society-owned light, I'm in.

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-Art

Another thought (Yikes! Two in one night? I'd better go to bed! Upon further consideration, the first comment really didn't involve much thought, so we're still safe. Now, as I was saying...)

Another thought: If all 550 or so registered Forumites pooled our resources and won this bid for $86,004.00, this lighthouse would have only cost us each $156.37. We could have founded the Todd Shorkey (Summer) Home for Retired Wackos for roughly the secondary price of a Diamond Head or Point Arena HL. Something to ponder for the next such auction.

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-Art

Summer Camp For Wackos - now there's a Wacky idea!

For those that are really Wacko, there is still plenty of winter time share openings left. Just let me know....LOL



-Todd

Small World Time -

I was at the Sugarloaf Art/Craft Fair in Novi, Mi. today and what did I see, but a small print of a painted picture of Granite Island Light. One of the artists at the show had various prints of his work including many lighthouses, landscapes and old style farm home. His work was very nice. It was just strange to have followed this thread for the past few weeks and then to find a painting of this out of the way light. Unfortunatly he was too busy for me to talk too much to him about the light. I did not buy the print as I had purchased two other small lighthouse prints of Au Sable and Point Betsie from another artist who knew about Harbour Lights.



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Jim

Dr. Who ?

I'm a little disappointed that my bid of $85,999.99 didn't win. Oh well...back to eBay! Besides, the commute would be too long.

Bob

Amazing what one man and God knows how much money can do in a year!

Check this out - fantastic!
http://www.graniteisland.com/index.shtml

This site will be visited often....I'm with you, Sue, how much money...but oh, how rewarding the investment will be.
Derith

Well I've been thinking about this a bit. While lots of us think it would be neat to own and live at a lighthouse I sure wouldn't chose this one.

First it cost him 86K for a fixer-upper on a 2 1/2 acre rock miles from shore in the middle of a Great Lake. Now he spends X amount of $ on it to be able to spend how much time there? No trees (shade), hardly any grass or wildlife put plenty of isolation. What happens if you run out of bread and milk?