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The former Coast Guard complex at Whitefish Point forms the core of this dramatic and extremely popular museum. As the lighthouse craze gets bigger and bigger and the museum markets itself more aggressively, the big parking lot can by full by 11 a.m. with cars of visitors from many states—a surprise if you expect end-of-the-road isolation. Come at 10 to avoid crowds. Touring the museum, seeing the presentation in the theater, visiting the lighthouse quarters, and walking around the site can easily take at least two hours. The paths to the lakeshore by the bird observatory are not to be missed!
To gain a good sense of this significant place, you might want to see the museum first, then purchase the excellent photo guide, Whitefish Point Light Station 1849 (currently just $5,95), and go up to a bench on the Hawk Hill overlook behind the museum to read it and take in the point, the light tower, and its natural surroundings. Find Hawk Hill by taking the boardwalk back between museum buildings. The Hawk Hill overlook, up 28 steps, is used for bird counts during migrations.
Looking out onto the light station and Whitefish Bay, it's easy to see how the shore between Whitefish Point and Munising, unprotected from weather systems, had become known as the "Shipwreck Coast" as early as 1846. The influential New York newspaperman Horace Greeley visited Lake Superior and mounted a campaign to protect ships with navigational aids. A lighthouse here, Lake Superior's first, was built in 1849. The first stone light tower was already suffering from erosion as the Civil War loomed on the nation's horizon. President Lincoln authorized construction of the current keeper's quarters and "iron pile" skeletal light tower, which has held up ever since 1861.
The light station and Coast Guard complex, now owned by the well-heeled Shipwreck Museum, are in tip-top condition. However, it's not easy to distinguish historical buildings from completely modern buildings that merely look historic, like the large and attractive museum store (888-397-3747). Here are maritime history books and videos, nautical items, souvenir sweatshirts etc., and lighthouse things, some claimed to be exclusive.
The interior of the main museum building uses eerie, somber music and dramatic lighting in an otherwise dim room to convey the haunting world of underwater shipwrecks. Models of boats which have sunk in Superior are juxtaposed with items brought up from the depths, such as a ship's bell from the schooner Niagara, sunk in 1887, or a carved eagle from the steamer Vienna, sunk in 1892. Narrative text describing causes of shipwrecks (excessive speed, anchoring inadvertently in a shipping lane, violent storms) to add to the drama. The centerpiece is a giant second-order Fresnel lighthouse lens 12' high, dwarfing ones typically seen. Its light casts irregular patterns on the dim floor and ceiling.
The Edmund Fitzgerald exhibit caps the main museum. The museum spearheaded the bell recovery project and has made an excellent short film, shown here, on the ship's history (it was once "Queen of the Lakes" and was always especially liked by boat-watching fans) and the bell's recovery by divers. A ship's bell symbolizes the connection of crew and ship. Travel Michigan, part of the state economic development office, has created "Echoes of the Edmund Fitzgerald," a richly annotated driving tour from Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie. Find it at www.michigan.org , go to "Travelers," then to "driving tours" and "maritime."
The Whitefish Point Coast Guard Life Boat Station goes back to 1923. Now it has been restored in part. The lifeboat house can be toured, with a replica 26' surfboat and other exhibits. Upstairs, five guest rooms —with private baths and dish TV and VCR/DVD—have been created in the crew's quarters and decorated in a historical vein. These are rented year-round. Part of the $150 a night room rate is tax-deductible.
In the lighthouse, the duplex lightkeeper quarters have been carefully restored to mint, like-new condition. The quarters of Keeper Robert Carlson, who served from 1903 to 1931, have been restored to the time period of 1920 with remarkable accuracy, thanks to detailed memories from his granddaughter, Bertha Endress Rollo, who grew up there. Lighthouse life is vividly conveyed not only by the visual details but in the text of displays in the other side of the duplex. Life was meticulous in routine and upkeep. Families were necessarily close-knit. Reading and nature study were natural activities. "It is a lonely life, but also in a way, a noble life," wrote Keeper Carlson.
In 1985 much of the Coast Guard station became the home of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, founded by diver Tom Farnquist, then a Sault Ste. Marie junior high biology teacher. He and other Great Lakes divers, concerned about the loss of shipwreck artifacts, wanted to share the excitement and history of shipwrecks with a wider public. In the museum's early years he adroitly marshaled volunteers and grants to develop the museum and the related Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society into nationally prominent organizations. The society continues to look for new shipwreck sites and to organize diving projects.
Farnquist had also become expert at underwater photography. Mysterious, evocative photographs of dives have been enlarged as backgrounds for exhibits. They make this impressive museum unusually compelling. An exhibit designer for the prestigious Milwaukee Public Museum was so taken by the shipwreck museum that he has worked regularly with the society.
The multifaceted museum web site, www.shipwreckmuseum.com , includes a virtual tour, updates on its activities, and much more. Still, the ultimate web site in every facet of boatwatching, including shipwrecks, is www.boatnerd.com - a spinoff of Know Your Ships, the "boatwatcher's bible" field guide to each year's ships on the Great Lakes. Go to the boatnerd home page to find "Great Lakes Shipwreck File" - facts on every shipwreck - plus more tasty tidbits like the "Great Lakes Bookshelf" with authoritative mini-reviews and a link to the Dossin Great Lakes Museum's "The Building of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Take M-123 north to the end of Whitefish Rd., 11 miles beyond Paradise. (906) 635-1742. Now open from May 1 through October 31, daily 10-6. Tours at other times by appointment. Adults $10, children $7, families (2 parents and 2+ children under 18) $28. Handicap accessible: museum, boat house, but not theater or lighthouse.
Photo: Dr. Ching-Kuang Shene, Michigan Tech#nological University
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