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No Island is … an Island
 The Isle Royale Families and Friends Association had quite a meeting of about 50 people recently in Duluth.
The gathering of this worthy organization was positive, and
no tears of frustration were in any way evident. After years of concern
over relations with the National Park Service, it was a pleasant scene
for all of us.
Let me introduce you to a fine group of people. Most have
generational ties to Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior
and a spot rich with a history of human use and habitation that extends
back thousands of years.
In the 1940s, Isle Royale and its outlying islands became a
national park. Such designation pleased those interested in recognizing
the unique environmental and cultural importance of this place.
But this was not unoccupied wilderness. Prehistoric people
came here. More recently, it was a resort destination and hosted the
fishing families who, in some cases, had for generations arrived each
summer to live and work.
After the National Park Service first took over the island in
the 1940s, there are stories of families leaving the island at the end
of their final fishing season, watching as their small homes were
burned by the park service.
The park service has come a long way since then, now working
to keep the cultural as well as the natural legacy of Isle Royale.
“What is critical for the park management is to know the historic
context,” says Superintendent Phyllis Green.
Not all families sold properties only for cash. Some 30
signed “life leases” that allowed the adults access to island homes for
as long as they lived. Most holders of those leases have since died;
currently five leases remain. “Special use permits” granted to children
of some families also allow access, though not guaranteed throughout
their lifetime. There are seven of those permits, including one to
operate a commercial fishing base on Washington Island. Five homes are
occupied by families annually through Volunteer-in-Park agreements.
The park lists 144 historic structures on or eligible for the
National Register of Historic Places. Of those 144, about 22 are summer
cabins occupied by life lessees, special use permit holders or
volunteers. The rest are outbuildings, unoccupied, park administrative
structures or lighthouses. Phyllis Green suggests that one day, some
homes might become places for any visitor to stay overnight.
Those in the Isle Royale Families and Friends Association who
make the annual pilgrimage to the islands contribute, at their own
expense, to upkeep of their “homes.”
“We’re attempting to work in partnership with the park
service to enhance Isle Royale,” says association President David
Barnum. “We feel privileged to experience a family history … connected
to the island and the lake going back six generations. We are a
different source of interpretive information on the history of Isle
Royale.”
A measure of their commitment was a workshop at the Duluth
meeting by people from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The trust, David says, favors allowing the original families to be
actively involved in building preservation of historic island
structures.
Currently the park is working on its new Wilderness and
Backcountry Management Plan. Isle Royale family members have expressed
concern that no “cultural management plan” exists.
Phyllis Green says a full “cultural landscape analysis” of
the island park will aid plans on how to maintain and promote that
cultural heritage.
Questions remain as to what the long-term relationship will
be for these families and this island. Perhaps their personal histories
can continue to enhance everyone’s experience of an exceptional island
on an exceptionally great lake.
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The
Isle Royale Families and Friends Association members take a moment for
a photograph with the author while at a gathering in Duluth, Minnesota,
at the Inn on Lake Superior. Courtesy of the Isle Royale Families and Friends Association.
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Those in the Isle Royale Families and Friends Association who make
the annual pilgrimage to the islands contribute, at their own expense,
to upkeep of their “homes.”
“We’re attempting to work in partnership with the park service to
enhance Isle Royale,” says association President David Barnum. “We feel
privileged to experience a family history … connected to the island and
the lake going back six generations. We are a different source of
interpretive information on the history of Isle Royale.”
A measure of their commitment was a workshop at the Duluth meeting
by people from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The trust,
David says, favors allowing the original families to be actively
involved in building preservation of historic island structures.
Currently the park is working on its new Wilderness and Backcountry
Management Plan. Isle Royale family members have expressed concern that
no “cultural management plan” exists.
Phyllis Green says a full “cultural landscape analysis” of the
island park will aid plans on how to maintain and promote that cultural
heritage.
Questions remain as to what the long-term relationship will be for
these families and this island. Perhaps their personal histories can
continue to enhance everyone’s experience of an exceptional island on
an exceptionally great lake.
The second edition of Shipwrecks of Lake Superior,
edited by Jim Marshall, has recently been published. And a selection of
Jim Marshall’s columns of lake lore and his inland sea voyages
has been published as Lake Superior Journal: Views from the Bridge
by Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. Follow this link
for more information.
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