Some of us look at an abandoned lighthouse ravaged by wind and water and
we shake our heads and say, “Isn’t that a shame? What can be done?”
But members of the Crisp Point Light Historical Society looked at the decaying
tower of one of the most endangered U.S. lighthouses and said, “Isn’t that
a shame. What are WE going to do about it?”
“The Crisp Point Light Historical Society has created a model for how to
save the aging towers that once guided inland seafarers,” says Paul Hayden,
editor of Lake Superior Magazine. “Using a potent mixture of elbow
grease, determination and partnerships, society members are achieving the
impossible with the lighthouse tower located near Paradise, Michigan.”
Members are shoring up the shoreline that Lake Superior is eating away
from beneath the lighthouse’s base (an outbuilding is already gone). Last
year they bleached and painted the 96-year-old, 58-foot-tall structure
to a bright new shine. This year they planted 90 pine trees to help reduce
erosion and are trying to raise funds for further efforts.
The society has wooed and won local and national support from such partners
as the Bay Mills and Sault Ste. Marie bands of Ojibway (which provided
initial and crucial beach protection), the American Lighthouse Foundation
(with the first grant to a light outside of New England), from other private
donors and, in the biggest relief of all, from the Luce County Board, which
agreed to fund - in partnership with the historical society - a seasonal
road to make the lighthouse accessible for needed equipment and volunteers.
The county owns the lighthouse and has arranged a 40-year lease to the
society.
“For past and on-going efforts, for its model to others also trying to
save lights around the Great Lakes, Lake Superior Magazine gives
its 2000 Achievement Award to the Crisp Point Light Historical Society,”
says Hayden. The Achievement Award is given to a community, organization
or person who has made a lasting contribution to the whole of Lake Superior.
The award has gone to international organizations, cooperating groups,
cities and individuals.
It is the 300 members in the lighthouse historical society who fire the
achievements. Members have donated construction skills, time and materials,
such as the new plexiglass windows helping to protect the tower’s interior.
The battle to save the Crisp Point Lighthouse is far from over and similar
battles are being waged around Lake Superior by other dedicated groups
to save Grand Island’s East Channel Light in Michigan and at Raspberry
and Outer islands in Wisconsin, among many others.
The spirit of the Crisp Point Light Historical Society is embodied in its
president - Nellie Ross - and its treasurer - Nellie’s husband, Don Ross.
The Rosses literally stumbled across the decaying Crisp Point Lighthouse
while lost in the woods during a vacation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Perhaps the lighthouse was putting out a psychic distress call because
the lost Rosses were just what it needed. The Ohio couple, about to retire,
hadn’t planned more than one visit to Lake Superior, but they fell in love
with the lake and with the dying lighthouse.
They moved to Paradise, Michigan, to be near both - and to join the fight
to save the one from the other because shoreline erosion remains the lighthouse’s
biggest enemy. Crisp Point Lighthouse no longer stands silent and alone.
It has some powerful allies in its fight to survive. Congratulations -
and thank you - to the members of the Crisp Point Light Historical Society.
Past Award Winners
1999 C. Patrick Labadie, Maritime Historian
1998 John and Ann Mahan, Authors/Publishers
1997 North of Superior Marina Marketing Association
1996 Cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan & Ontario
1995 Lake Superior Binational Forum
1994 Craig Blacklock, photographer
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