Continued from Part VI. . . .


Sunday, 08/13/06 found us searching for 2 lights in Mackinac, MI and cruising aboard Shepler’s Ferry Cruises (their Eastbound Cruise) later in the day and photographing 10 lights. If you’re ever in the area and up for a 5-hour cruise with extremely knowledgeable tour guides, I recommend this company. Their Westward Cruise takes in Old Mackinac Point, White Shoal Light, Gray’s Reef Light, Waugoshance Light, and St. Helena Island Light. (The next cruise for that one left on Tuesday and we planned to leave on Monday. Dearly beloved and I determined that 2 solid weeks of one another’s company with no break is the best we can do, even after 26+ years. Starting the trip back ended up being the best thing we could have done. I’ll explain that at the end–I’m still having fun recalling the good part of the trip!!)


McGulpin Point, MI: This 1869 lighthouse, marking the southwestern side of the entrance to the Straits of Mackinac. The Mackinac Point Lighthouse, built in 1892 and located just 2 miles west of McGulpin’s Point, could be seen by vessels entering the Straits from both the west and east. Thus, McGulpin’s Point became redundant and was retired in 1906 after just 37 years of service. The 1½-story yellow brick dwelling with attached octagonal tower is now a private residence. It sits on 11.5+ acres, 3 bedrooms, 1½ baths, a 2-stall garage, private guest house, and a view of Mackinaw Bridge from its 336' water frontage. No mention is made of the tower and its missing lantern room in the sales flyer I picked up and we didn’t have time to “call for a private showing.” The $1,499,000 asking price and no lantern room didn’t intrigue me.





Old Mackinac Point, MI: The fog signal building was completed on the point in 1890, 2 years before the fortress-like lighthouse began operation. The fog signal was built due to inability to see McGulpin’s Point light in foggy conditions. Considered obsolete and taken out of service in 1957 when Mackinac Bridge lights were used to guide ships. Located in Michilimackinac State Park in Mackinaw City very close to the southern end of Mackinac Bridge. In 2005 its original barn was relocated back to the site.





Shepler’s Ferry Eastbound Cruise.


Round Island Light, MI: Located on Round Island just off the southern tip of Mackinac Island. Prior to building this light, channel between Mackinac Island and Round Island impassable due to dangerous shoals. A 4th-Order Fresnel lens showed steady white with a flash of red every 20 seconds. Automated in 1924, the keepers and their belongings were removed from the station. The automated Round Island Passage Light was erected off the harbor breakwater on Mackinac Island in 1947 and this light was no longer necessary as a navigational aide. She became part of the Hiawatha National Forest in 1958. Still serving as an active aid to navigation, a 300 mm acrylic lantern now guides mariners passing through the Straits. There are plans for interior restoration and further exterior improvements.





Round Island Passage Light, MI: Just off the southern tip of Mackinac Island. This operational sealed beam light was built and first illuminated in 1948. Constructed of reinforced concrete on a crib foundation, the octagonal tower is white with a red base. Automated in 1973, the 190 mm light with a focal plane of 71' guides ships through the passage between Round Island and Mackinac Island.





Bois Blanc Island, MI: Located at the end of a long peninsula, jutting into Lake Huron from the northern side of Bois Blanc Island, the original 30' circular stone tower and detached dwelling was the second light on Lake Huron when it was built in 1829. The tower was capped by an iron lantern and originally had an array of 13 Lewis lamps with reflectors and exhibited a fixed white characteristic. Replaced in 1839 and located further back from the lake to prevent erosion and another eventual collapse, the second tower was also replaced by an entirely new tower and dwelling in 1869 and still stands. Decommissioned in 1924, the light was replaced by an automated acetylene light that sat on a 35' black steel skeleton tower to the east of the old light. The old station property and buildings were sold in 1925. The steel skeletal tower was replaced by the existing cylindrical D9 tower with a solar-powered 200 mm acrylic optic.

The present owners have gone to great lengths to restore the historic 1869 structure.





Bois Blanc D9 Light Tower: An ignominious tubular steel structure used in the waning days of 20th century as an aid to navigation construction. The design was peculiar to the Great Lakes, and took its name from the Ninth Coast Guard District responsible for its design--thus the name D9.





Poe Reef, MI: South of Bois Blanc Island and 6.5 miles NE of Cheboygan. Its concrete pier is 64' square and 45' high, its steel-framed structure is 25' square and 38' tall, and that structure is topped by a square watch room. Built to replace some of the last lightships that marked this dangerous reef that lies just 8' beneath the water’s surface since 1893. Illuminated with a 3rd-Order Fresnel lens, this exact duplicate of Martins Reef Light, the 71' focal plane had a visibility range of almost 20 nautical miles. Works was completed and the light exhibited in August of 1929. In order to eliminate the possibility of the Poe Reef Light being mistaken for the identical all-white structure at Martins Reef, the main deck and watch room of the Poe structure were given a contrasting coat of black paint. Automated in 1974, the lens was replaced with a solar-powered 375 mm acrylic optic.





14' Shoal, MI: This unmanned, radio-controlled (from Poe Reef Light), 28' x 34' steel-framed rectangular tower stands on a concrete pier that is 50' square and 15' high, and marks a dangerous shoal just 14' deep near the entrance to Cheboygan Harbor. Its original 4th-Order Fresnel lens has been replaced with a plastic lens. Because it was built close to shore, a submarine cable was laid to the station and power supplied by the Cheboygan municipal power plant. The equipment building was outfitted with electric motors to drive the compressors feeding the station’s twin diaphone fog signals that sounded a characteristic of a 1 second blast followed by 14 seconds of silence. The station’s 50' focal plane provided the light with a range of visibility of 14 miles in clear weather.

Exhibited for the first time at the opening of navigation in 1930, 14' Shoal Light’s improved lighting made the 75-year-old Cheboygan Light obsolete and that light was discontinued in 1930.

Cheybogan Crib, MI: Located on a breakwater on the west side of the mouth of the Cheboygan River, this 40' octagonal, cast iron tower was located out on Lake Huron on a concrete and stone crib, some 2,300' beyond the end of the breakwater, but its foundation settled into the lake. The town of Cheboygan salvaged the structure and moved it to its current location, marking the harbor entrance.

Work began in 1884 with the construction of a wood crib on shore. When completed, it was towed into position at the channel entrance and submerged with the addition of crushed limestone; the crib was capped with oak timber framework to provide an oil storage room below the tower. The framework was then planked with timber to a deck level of 11' above water. The cast iron light tower was installed in October of 1884 along with the cast iron spiral staircase. The tower was securely bolted to an oak ring anchored into the cribs timber framework. 2½” thick pine paneling provided insulation and prevented condensation on the cast iron plates. To help light the lower section of the tower, glass panels were installed in the lantern room floor; a pot-bellied wood stove was installed on the lower level.

The tower was capped with an octagonal, cast iron lantern; the lantern has a copper roof and an 18" diameter ventilator ball. A red 4th-Order Fresnel lens was installed with a kerosene lamp of 159 candlepower and a visibility range of 10 miles. The beacon was first exhibited in November of 1884; its daymark was brown. Originally constructed without keeper’s quarters on site. The Cheboygan Front Range Light provided living quarters for the assistant keeper (assigned the maintenance of the Crib Light) and the keeper of the Range Lights. A small dwelling was constructed next to the tower in 1897 to give the keeper much more room for maintaining the light. Its daymark was changed in 1901 to increase its effectiveness; the tower was repainted white with a contrasting bright red lantern room roof. Automated in the late 1920s, the kerosene lamp was replaced with an acetylene sun valve system. The last keeper assigned to this Crib Light left the structure on August 6, 1929.

The Coast Guard agreed to donate the tower to the City of Cheboygan for display as a historical attraction–its new home would be on the West Breakwater off Gordon Turner Park. The tower was lifted from its crib and transported to the breakwater in 1984. The glass windows were replaced with Lexan for safety reasons and the tower was painted. In 2001, The Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association recaulked all joints on the structure and replaced the Lexan windows; they also repainted the tower back to its original daymark with a white tower, gray gallery, and red roof and ventilator ball.





Cheboygan Pier D9, MI: The modern, cylindrical steel light tower located at the opposite end of the breakwater that is home to Cheboygan Crib Light has an automated aircraft type beacon, a flashing red signal on 4 second intervals is produced with a lens focal plane of 25'.





Cheboygan River Front and Rear Range, MI:


Cheboygan River Front Range, MI: This 1880-built, active range light has a focal plane of 45' and shows a continuous red light. Approximately 40' square cylindrical wood tower is attached church-style to the 1½-story wood keeper’s house. Original illumination was a 6th-Order Fresnel lens; a red locomotive-style lamp and a large red-striped daymark are now mounted on the front of the tower. Building is painted white, its circular cast iron oil house is also preserved. Ownership transferred to Great Lakes Lightkeepers Association in June of 2004. In 2005 Michigan granted sufficient funds for a pre-restoration engineering study of the building.

Cheboygan RIver Rear Range, MI: A continuous red light with a focal plane of 75', the light sits on a skeletal tower 1,115' behind the front range.

Both the front and rear light can be seen in this picture.





We left Michigan on Monday morning, opting to take the interstates home and planning to arrive on Wednesday, August 16th. My mother had her gall bladder removed on July 30th following a diagnosis made on Saturday, the 29th. No prior warning, just a grayish pallor on Thursday and Friday. Good appetite, all systems “go”, just an overall punky feeling. She came through the surgery without problems and we were given to go ahead to leave for Michigan late Monday afternoon (the 31st!). She was going to be placed in a convalescent home upon release from the hospital for rehab anyway, so our not being here wasn’t going to upset her. The short of it is that I felt we should go home earlier than planned and give me a few days to catch up on work I’d missed in our absence.

We stopped in Monroe, MI Monday night and made it to Loganton, PA on Tuesday where we pulled off the interstate to gas up and find a campground. RV would not start. No warning, just caput! (Probably taking lessons from my mother!!) Had to be towed (picture me on Stan’s lap and the driver in a huge tow truck so cramped that my knee was mistaken for the gear shift [Hmmmm] numerous times) towing a 28' Winnebago 30 miles down the road to the parking lot of a dealer that was qualified to service the vehicle. We “dry-camped” (we have a generator, our own water, and propane stove and microwave and are self-sufficient so we can stay anywhere–campsite or driveway, Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel) in that parking lot Tuesday night and goaded their service department to find some time to at least find out what the problem was. A mechanic finally showed at 1:30 PM, told us our starter wires had melted and he would install a new starter along with a relay switch that Winnebago was including with the starters because the starters were melting and the relay switch would prevent overheating on the replacement starter. That’s a whole other story that I won’t bore you with here. We were back on the road at 7 PM, made it to Drums, PA and another overnight stay. We arrived here around 3 PM on Thursday, August 17th–weary and a day longer than we’d planned, but safely home.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your excursion albeit using my eyes. We hope to take the Apostle Island’s cruise the next time that one is offered by WILD. I gather from the talk aboard ship that they’re hoping to get the okay to go to Canada in the near future, so another stateside cruise may be a year or two off in the distance.

Sandy,
Glad to hear you made it home safely. I hope your mother is on the mend.
I really enjoyed reading all about your travels and seeing the pictures.
HCS

Thanks for all the great photos Sandy, and dearly beloved! Sounds like you had some trip! I'm sure that I've never seen photos of some of these lights before.

Thank you, thank you, Sandy - more wonderful memories of the 2005 Reunion! Of this group of lights, McGulpin Point is the only light we didn't see. Thanks for taking us on your trip with you. Hope your mom is doing much better now!

Sandy,
It was nice meeting you and Stan on the WILD Cruise, as well as everyone else that was new to the cruise and also the "old timers". Missed a lot of folks too ..you know who you are...'Captain', Mad Scientist, and BoBo, and many others!

Fantastic trip you made with all of these photos...
Good for you, and I hope all is well!!

Pam

Pam.

More than anything, I wish that I could have joined the rest of you on the WILD cruise. But it just wasn't to be.

But I heard that WILD (Suzanne and you?) might possibly be planning a cruise to the northern side of the lakes -- meaning Canada. That would be a blast.

bobo

Sandy- enjoyed your photos and reading about your journey. Hope your mom is on the mend. Thanks for sharing with those of us who haven't yet seen these lights!

Thanks, Sandy, for your nice photos. We hope to see McGulpin's Point next week. Whoever buys that place needs to put a lantern on top and preserve it as much as possible. You would think if they can afford that price they could renovate it too.
Judy

Sandy, some great shots and brought back a lot of memories for me, especially the Shepler's cruises (which I haven't done in 6 years!). I should be able to get some more of mine up this weekend.

Really nice pictures. Brings back pleasant memories.
When we saw Bois Blanc the windows were boarded up. It is good that someone is taking care of it now. It's such a cute little lighthouse. If lighthouses can be cute.

Grace, I wonder how we missed McGulpin?

Wow, and double wow! What a lighthouse journey that was! I just read and viewed all your work. Great job on the pics and the accompanying narratives. You certainly put a lot of time into it. Thanks for sharing!

Bob

McGulpin Point Light House actually looks like it went down in price !!
It's a beautiful piece of property, but unless I win the lottery....

http://res.awardproperties.com/listing_d.htm?type=e&dev=&mls=G534086

Kay, I thought I'd pass along this tidbit on Bois Blanc Island: I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table with the owners and Nancy Younger at the first North American Lighthouse Festival in August 1999 in Mackinaw City. The reason it looks boarded up is because they've had trouble with trespassers and "curious onlookers" breaking into the lighthouse. Last I knew, they lived in Chicago, so it's a summer home for them, and I think they keep it boarded up while they're not there. I remember him commenting on how they were eating dinner one Sunday night and someone just waltzed in their door without knocking!

Sandy - great job of reporting and photographing all the lights! I saw a lot of those lights through the Reunion and on the pre- and post trips with other lighthouse buddies.

Brought back some good memories. Grace and Kay missed McGulpins Point because they wouldn't stop and ask directions.

I got directions from Dick Moehl man-to-man.

You should have come along with us, Ladies.

Very funny John!
HCS

I too would have loved to be there again but it wasn't to be.
This Canada trip has to take place as its now been 2 years that I know of that Suzanne has been talking about it. I sure hope that when it comes I DO NOT have anything already planned as I have been planning on that trip since I first heard about it...2 years ago. Are you listening Suzanne????

Great pictures. It sure seemed like another great trip by the "WILD Bunch."


Hey John, I guess you like living on the edge with the ladies regarding that comment eh.

Thanks Jen, for the info. I would have loved to go inside, It would be fun for a summer home. I'd love to decorate it!

Well, John, how do you think we could ask directions when we didn't know there was a McGulpin? You should have picked us up when you saw us "hitch-hiking"!

I was just doing a 'turn-around' for the linked post about Moses and men never asking for directions. I think Hilary got it.

I thought it was less than a million when we saw it last summer.

Here's the real value of the property:

With that much lake front footage, some developer could put together a very nice condo/timeshare community with the owners sharing the waterfront and the units stacked up on the bluff. Tennis courts on the upper level (lighthouse elevation), swimming pool, putting green down by the lake with a clubhouse/restaurant.

The entrance would use the lighthouse as the focal point and all the other buildings would be below the view from the lighthouse.

Perhaps the developer could donate the lighthouse to GLLKA and get a good tax writeoff.

Or they could restore it as a B&B.

Yes I did John!
Maybe Tom did not read the other posts.
HCS

This is a great idea. Know any developers that would be interested?
I especially like the idea of a B&B which would make the lighthouse accessible to the public.
HCS

Congratulations John! You are among an elite group that do.

The reason Kay and Grace didn't get to see McGulpins Point is that it is private property, with minimal views from the road, and it would not have been very practical to unload a bus of 50+ people in front for a peek.

Thanks, Dave.

Thanks, Debbie. However, I did abide by the secret rule of men: When you must ask for directions, ask of another man and never in front of a woman.

Posted by Tom K:

The two years of waiting in anticipation is now going on three. I certainly agree with the rest of you.

bobo

Nice one John!

I've been gone for several days - gotta stop doing that! I must say that you do have a great sense of humor, John!

However, as you can see, it wasn't that Kay and I couldn't find the lighthouse; Dave didn't include it in the pre-post Reunion tour.