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Recent News
Society sponsors 2nd Anual Music Fest to support restoration of the school at Gay
July 20, 2010 The 2nd annual Music Fest will be held in Gay, MI
at the School on Saturday, July 24, from 4-8 P.M. The event, sponsored by the Keweenaw County Historical Society, is a benefit for the restoration and preservation of the "Historic" school at Gay which was in operation from 1927-1961. Future plans for the school include a classroom, local history museum and meeting room. Performers for the concert will include the Singin' Sheriff Ron Lahti, Joe Kezele, The Dodge Street Band-Classic Rock and Wing Nuts.
A live auction featuring various local items will take place during intermission. Auction items will include:
- A hand made quilt
- Two sets of 4 jars each with various jams made from local berries
- Four hour work project to be determined by the winning bidder and completed by the Posse, a running group led by Sheriff Ron Lahti
- A small furniture chest
- A twelve person fish boil
- A wooden stringer of fish
- A Lake Superior Rock hurricane glass for two tea lights with "Lake Superior" inscribed in the rock
A concession stand will serve hot dogs, chips, popcorn and other refreshments.Lawn seating only - please bring a chair or blanket for your comfort. Thank you for your tax deductible donation to the KCHS designated Gay School Restoration Project.
Society hosts successful Open House for the opening of the J.W. Nara Photographic exhibit
In addition celebrating to the Nara exhibit the open house allowed visitors free access to tour the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse and the other museums at the complex including the Keweenaw History Museum, the Commercial Fishing museum, and the Maritime museum. Visitors also had a chance to see the new Fourth Order Fresnel Lens exhibit in the lighthouse. This lens is similar to the one that was originally used in the lighthouse. There were a number of guides dresssed in period clothing who assisted the visitors. Refreshments were served and it seems that good time was had by everyone.
TV Channel 6 from Marquette ran two stories about the open house. Click this link to see their story of the historic Eagle Harbor lighthouse complex and the activities of the openhouse. Click this link to see their story that focused on the Nara exhibit.
Society Receives National Park Service Grants
A grant of $6,335 was awarded to assist in the restoration and rehabilitation of the exterior of the Society's Keweenaw History Museum at the Eagle Harbor Light Station. The museum, located in the former Coast Guard garage at the Station, houses exhibits related to the settlement and mining history of the County, including the story of the prehistoric people who mined copper here many thousands of years ago. One of the museum's major exhibits is the account of the 1926 wreck of the City of Bangor, including the display of one of the many factory fresh Chryslers salvaged from the wreck. The building rehab includes replacement of the solid garage doors with window doors to enhance interior lighting, the relocation of pedestrian doors to improve visitor access and circulation, and repair and repainting of the building's exterior. The work will be completed in time for the June 13th opening of the museum, and will assist in the Society's plans to improve the museum's exhibit presentation. The succesful grant application and project implementation are managed by Society Vice-President Ginny Schubert.
The second grant of $2,750 was awarded to assist in the restoration of the Society's recently acquired 26-foot pulling surf boat. The boat restoration is now nearing completion and will be the steller exhibit at the Society's new Life-Saving Museum at the former Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station. The grant will partially fund outfitting the boat with sweeping oars and other equipment. Trustee Mark Rowe who prepared the grant application and is overseeing the boat restoration expects to have the boat ready for launching before the end of the summer.
Both grants require matching funds and/or in-kind services by the Society.
Life - Saving Museum Opens
The Life-Saving Station Museum at the marina in Eagle Harbor will open Sunday, June 13, for self-guided tours.
Exhibts include a 36-foot U.S. Coast Guard Motor Life Boat (MLB) self-righting surf boat, the 26-foot Coast Guard motor surfbaot acquired in December from a National Park in North Carolina, and currently a 27-foot Classic Fantail Launch, soon to be replaced by the 26-foot Pulling surfboat being now being restored. Once the26-foot surfboat is delivered from the restorer, the museum will display all the eary wooden rescue boats used by the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Also on display will be an original vintage 21-foot surfboat trailer and a beach cart used for hauling rescue equipment.
A temporary glass enclosed viewing area inside the restored Life-Saving Station boathouse will also include information and photos about the Eagle Harbor station's most famous rescue, the 1913 wreck of the steamer L. C. Waldo in a November storm off Keweenaw Point. Nine Eagle Harbor rescuers were awarded the Life-Saving Service's highest honor, the Gold Metal, for their heroic role in the rescue of 29 souls from the Waldo
The Life-Saving Museum will be open from 9 am to 6 pm daily. No admission charged. Donations to support the operation and improvement of the museum wil be appreciated.
May 2010 President's Letter
Published in Superior Signal, the Society's Award Winning Quarterly NewsletterAfter a mild winter and an early spring, I am looking forward to welcoming returning volunteers and summer visitors. It will be an exciting season for KCHS with the opening of two new museums; the restoration and renovation of another; the changing and updating of exhibits in many of other museums; the hosting of the J. W. Nara exhibit in the Fishing Museum and the exciting Adventures in History workshops and other programs.
The new Life-Saving Station Museum will be open for self-guided tours starting in June. Mark Rowe, chairman, has installed a viewing area, arranged for the interior to be painted and designed informational pictures and signs about the brave life-savers of Eagle Harbor. In addition, he wrote a KNHP Advisory Commission grant for equipment for the 26 foot surfboat that is being restored. The grant has been partially funded. He hopes to have the boat back by the end of summer. The grant for the equipment will allow the boat to be launched and used in the Harbor.
The new Eagle River Museum is also expected to open this summer. Phil Mason, Mel Jones and Al Johnson have selected early pictures and artifacts of the Cliff Mine and Clifton to be used for the displays. Dan Johnson of KNHP has been providing valuable assistance in designing and making the displays.
Ginny Schubert wrote a KNHP Advisory Commission grant for the exterior restoration and renovation of the History Museum. This grant which has been fully funded will enable KCHS to renovate and restore the outside of this museum, the former Coast Guard garage on the grounds of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse complex. The work, which will be completed by June, will include replacing rotted garage doors, changing the entrance door to provide a better flow to the museum, repairing rotted soffits and facia and painting the building in the original Coast Guard colors. The new garage doors will include windows coated with UV Protectant to provide more light to the interior. All of this work should make the building more inviting to visitors. This is the only public museum with ancient copper mining artifacts in the area. It also houses other copper specimens, mining artifacts and historical exhibits such as Daniel Brockway’s desk and a 1927 Chrysler from the wreck of the City of Bangor.
With the acquisition and restoration of the 4th order Fresnel lens last summer, there will be some display changes at the Lighthouse. Nancy Molloy has agreed to assist Ginny Schubert in working on the displays. In addition to the new lens room on the first floor, a child’s bedroom has been created upstairs as well as a new way of displaying the wonderful collection of Coast Guard Uniforms. If you haven’t visited the museum in a while, stop in and see the new exhibits. The volunteers provided by volunteer chairman, Ginny Schubert, continue to provide a wonderful commentary on the history of the building and all of the exhibits.
The Maritime Museum in the old Fog Signal Building under the able chairmanship of Darlene Huovinen will have some useful repairs done to the sidewalk coming into the building. Some of the displays are scheduled to be moved to the new Life-Saving Station Museum.
The Rathbone School, under the chairmanship of Connie Eddy, will be open for tours during the Eagle Harbor Art Fair on August 14th and 15th. There is much to see in this museum of an early Eagle Harbor School and a museum of the founding of the Knights of Pythias.
Marcia Mason has agreed to help Duffy Liddicoat with the interior displays at Central, and Larry Molloy has agreed to help with the history of the buildings, leaving Clarence Fisher free to concentrate on the maintenance and restoration of the buildings and trails. He and Duane Coponen continue to perform miracles in saving and making the old houses able to be used for museums or other purposes. There are a number of programs being offered at Central this year ending in the opportunity to make your own cider from Central’s heritage apples on October 2nd.
The Phoenix Church has been painted. There are a number of special events planned by Jack Marta, chairman, at the church this year (see calendar) as well as four weddings. Linden Dahlstrom, local summer resident and painter has donated an oil painting of the church to be raffled this summer. Arbutus Peterson of the Phoenix Store has agreed to sell raffle tickets for us as well as opening and closing the church for the 24th year. Stop in and thank her!
Last year’s Open House at the Blacksmith Shop was so successful, it will be repeated this year on July 18th. Clarence Monette has agreed to chair the committee again. We hope to have several new events this year as well as demonstrations of blacksmithing and horseshoeing, tours of the Blacksmith Shop and refreshments.
Some work is starting at the Gay School. The enthusiastic group of volunteers in Gay, led by trustee Dick Mintkin, hopes to have the entry-way and one classroom open for visitors in time for the Music Fest on July 24th.
In addition to the Adventures in History Workshops there will be several presentations at the Eagle Harbor Community Building (check calendar). Larry Massie’s presentation of Stories of Michigan’s Past will be followed by refreshments from Michigan’s past. Rum refreshments will follow Phil Mason’s Rum Running in the Keweenaw and there will be an ice cream social after the concert by Neil Woodward, Michigan’s troubadour.
Virginia Jamison
