Our Landmark 25th
A landmark can be defined as a prominent,
identifying feature on a landscape. Or an event marking a critical
development, a turning point. Or a building with historical
significance.
Women, I’m given to understand, are prone to give directions
by landmarks … as in, go down two blocks to the red house and turn
right. Then go until you pass the fenced-in yard with the big swing
set, turn left and there you are. Men tend toward specifics … go north
for 3.2 miles, turn east and go for 1.75 miles, turn north again. Stop.
You’re there. (Men, I’m also given to understand, are more prone to
ignore directions, any directions, if they ask directions at all.)
People’s lives fill with milepost landmarks, identifying
stages of development. Living away from home - and from Lake Superior -
for the first time was a landmark event for me. It changed my dreams,
literally, to storm-tossed waves and changed my goals, figuratively,
from dreams of a big-city career in foreign places to Dorothy’s wish to
bid Oz farewell and to go home again. (Dorothy, a.k.a. Judy Garland,
was a Minnesota north woods girl, by the way. No wonder why she could
play that role so well.)
You will be hearing a lot from me this year about landmarks.
For a quarter of a century - that’s 25 years for those men who prefer
specifics - Lake Superior Magazine has been an identifying feature on
the Lake Superior landscape, marking the development of this lake
circle into a destination not just for the sailors who come to our
ports, but for millions of visitors drawn to our shores, towns and
woods. We’ve also tried to create a community conversation among lake
dwellers in Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin, serving the
“watershed” long before folks recognized watersheds as interconnected
and interdependent.
This is, for us, a landmark year, and to celebrate it, we
intend to fill our pages with special landmarks of the lake. Some we
will revisit. Glensheen Historic Estate, featured among these pages,
has graced our cover four times in 25 years. This issue makes Cover 5,
but we approach the mansion from a new perspective - taking time to
enjoy the art of its tableaux and its architectural features.
We also intend to tap some “landmark” photographers
throughout the year, recognized names of shooters who live or work
around the lake. In this issue, we feature the work of a fallen friend,
Tim Slattery, whose camera brought us a from-the-water view of our port
and whose untimely, recent death brought us an unhappy landmark by
which to measure time.
As always, we continue to facilitate a lively conversation
about Lake Superior, bringing issues of appropriate development (State
of the Lake) and best home-building techniques (Ideal Northern Home)
along with introductions of places and people worth meeting.
We hope that you will join us for the entire landmark year,
will share in our celebrations and will delight as we introduce you, or
reintroduce you, to this magnificent place.
For us, there just is no place like home.
Konnie LeMay
Editor
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