The Life Saving Station Boathouse as it looked when it was operational with three boats in their bays.
Lake Superior may be calm as glass one moment and have 20 foot seas the next. Storms rage on the lake from April through the infamous Gales of November into January. The crew of the Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station knew that all too well yet they lived by the motto of the U.S. Life Saving Service "You have to go out but you don't have to come back". Once a separate governmental agency the Life Saving Service became part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. To honor these brave men and their families the Keweenaw County Historical Society has opened a Life-Saving Station Museum near the at the marina in Eagle Harbor in the old Life Saving Station boathouse. It contains several exhibits including:
- A 36-foot U.S. Coast Guard Motor Life Boat (MLB) self-righting surf boat
- A 26-foot Coast Guard motor surfboat that was acquired in December, 2009 from a National Park in North Carolina
- The trailer used to haul the surfboat
- A Beach Cart which contained all the equipment surfmen used to transport equipment to the scene of a wreck
- A Line Cart used to carry line for rescues
- A Life-Car, a small covered lifeboat used to transport shipwreck victims to shore
- A Lyle Gun used to shoot a rescue line from the shore to a wreck
- A Buda boat engine, an engine manufactured by the Buda Marine Engine Company of Illinois that was used to power surfboats
Postcards were printed celebrating the successful rescue of the crew of the Waldo by members of the crew of the Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station
The Museum also has a 26-foot pulling surfboat which is being now being restored. Once the26-foot surfboat is delivered from the restorer, the museum will display all the early wooden rescue boats used by the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.
A view of the Station with all of the buildings in place. (Photo courtesy of Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, Michigan Historical Center.)
The Museum has a glass enclosed viewing area inside the restored Life-Saving Station boathouse. It has one display about the Eagle Harbor station's most famous rescue, the 1913 wreck of the steamer L. C. Waldo. The Waldo was wrecked in a November storm off Keweenaw Point. Nine Eagle Harbor rescuers were awarded the Life-Saving Service's highest honor, the Gold Medal, for their heroic role in assisting in the rescue of 24 souls and one dog from the Waldo. Another display uses a collection of memorabilia to discuss the Marshall family which served both the Portage and Eagle Harbor Life Saving Stations.
The The Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station and museum is open from mid-June to early October.