Detour Reef Lighthouse

Posted on by farlane

DeTour Reef Lighthouse, MI

DeTour Reef Lighthouse, MI, photo by hatchski

Today’s post is from the “What Are the Odds?” category. Some weeks I will sit down on Sunday evening and write a few posts. I wrote this one last Sunday and then on Tuesday, the State Historic Preservation Office announced 2013 recipients of Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program. Three lighthouses will receive dollars for preservation efforts: the Manistee North Pier Light, the St. Clair  South Channel Range Lights (already profiled on Michigan in Pictures) and the DeTour Reef Lighthouse!

Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light tells of the history of the DeTour Reef Lighthouse. He begins:

As freighters plying the St. Marys River grew in length and depth, a reef lying 24 feet below the surface off the entrance to the river between Detour Point and Drummond Island became a menace to safe passage between the lake and river. Without funding to erect a lighthouse, an acetylene buoy was placed to mark the reef on September 29, 1897 as a temporary measure.

As part of a major project to improve aids to navigation in the Straits of Mackinac at the end of the 1920’s, the Lighthouse Bureau had proven its ability in the efficient construction of offshore crib-based lights at Martin Reef in 1927, and Poe Reef 1929. With success already in its back pocket, after receiving an appropriation for the construction of a first-class light station on Detour Reef, the Bureau was immediately able to focus its attention on construction of the new station.

The first order of business was the establishment of a land-based camp as close as possible to the reef. Here, the crib which would form the submarine foundation for the structure could be built, and housing could be obtained for the construction crew. By the twin virtues of having deep water close to its shore and its proximity to the construction site, Detour Village was selected as the best location for the base of operations.

You can read on at Seeing the Light for details and photos of the fascinating construction process of this “crib lighthouse” that culminated with the official lighting of the new tower on the night of November 10, 1931. In 1974 the light was automated and in 1997 the lighthouse was declared excess property by the U.S. Coast Guard, but community members were able to come together to for the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society (Facebook). This successful partnership renovated the lighthouse and now offers YOU the chance to be a volunteer keeper and stay at the lighthouse!

View Mark’s timely photo background big and see more in his massive Mark’s lights slideshow.

Many more Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.

Sleeping Bear Dunes Concert

Posted on by farlane

Dune Shift

Dune Shift, photo by farlane

Today on Leelanau.com I posted about one of my favorite Michigan musical events – the Glen Arbor Art Association’s 15th annual Dune Climb concert. The FREE concert takes place this Sunday, July 14 at 7:00 pm.

The setting is the incomparable natural amphitheater of the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and I heartily encourage you to join thousands of others at this free concert that has become a summer tradition in Leelanau.

This year one of Michigan’s premier jazz ensembles, the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra, will present big band and original compositions. Some of the area’s finest musicians will be performing, including vocalist Edye Evans-Hyde. There is no charge for the concert, but a National Park pass is required for parking. Free shuttle buses will provide transportation to overflow parking lots. Bring chairs or (better) blankets to sit on. Some folding chairs are also provided in front of the stage. In the event of rain, the show will go on at the Glen Arbor Town Hall.

The Dune Climb concert is an amazing experience for folks young and old (sand dune = good fun for energetic kids) and is part of the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival.

If you regularly follow Michigan in Pictures, you know that I don’t often feature my own photos but this one really captures the amazingness of the dune concert! The ladies at the top are actually hundreds of feet up the dune yet still getting amazing sound flowing up to them. Check it out background big and see more from the show including the unmodified version of this photo in my Music Makes Me Smile slideshow. The photo uses a technique called “tilt-shift” created using a simple photoshop technique.

More dunes on Michigan in Pictures!

Squeeze up to the counter

Posted on by farlane

Yipsilanti Michigan

Yipsilanti Michigan, photo by vtnn43e48073

It may not be Nighthawks, but I thought this diner looked pretty cool!

Check it out background big or in Zack’s slideshow.

Sunrise Splash-in

Posted on by farlane

Splash-in 2013

Splash-in 2013, photo by Gary of the North(Footsore Fotography

Check Gary’s photo out big as the sky and see more in his Grand Marais Michigan slideshow.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Message in a Bottle from Tashmoo Park

Posted on by farlane

tashmoo park

Tashmoo at the Dock, 1900, photo courtesy shorpy.com

The Daily Mail reports on an almost 100-year-old find:

Selina Pramstaller was 17-years-old and Tillie Esper was 23-years-old when they visited an amusement park on Harsens Island in Michigan alongside the St Clair River in 1915 and decided to commemorate the day with a message in a bottle.

That message- ‘having a good time at Tashmoo’- was found almost 97 years later by diver Dave Leander.

Click through for more on the find and some pictures. You can see more pictures and read something about this once popular amusement park on Harsens Island that closed for good in 1951 at waterwinterwonderland.com.

Check this out background bigtacular (or buy a print) and see many more old photos from Detroit and elsewhere at shorpy.com. About the boat, they explain:

The Detroit River excursion steamer SS Tashmoo, a sidewheeler, stopped at Tashmoo Park on the St. Clair Flats on trips between Detroit and Port Huron. A high point in the boat’s eventful 36-year life was the night in 1927 that she broke free of her moorings in a winter storm and headed downriver on her own. Her end came in 1936, when she hit a submerged rock and sank.

La Chapele: The Doric Arch & Chapel Rock

Posted on by farlane

Pictured Rocks Shoreline

Pictured Rocks Shoreline, photo by dwfphoto

Their beginning is in the Doric Rock which is about two miles from the line of towers and battlements which compose the grand display of the Pictured Rocks; and seems to have been sent in advance to announce to the voyageur the surprising and appalling grandeur that awaits him ahead.
~Thomas McKenney, 1834

“Appalling grandeur” is indeed fitting for the stretch of the Pictured Rocks. The above quotation comes from a wonderful website I just discovered: Tracing The Trail: The Pictured Rocks Segment of the Anishnaabeg Migration Route. The site has some incredible historic information about the Anishnaabeg and their life & migration through the Pictured Rocks. The site has some fascinating information, and I heartily urge you to check it out. Regarding what is today known as Chapel Rock, they explain that what we see today was once an arch known as Doric Rock or Le Chapelle.

“The voyageurs, of course, coined the name ‘Le Chapelle,’ and they continued to use the term well into the American period. The journals of the 1820 Cass expedition reveal the origin of the new name. David Bates Douglass simply notes that just west of a waterfall cascading over the rocks they visited a ‘fine natural arch.’ Schoolcraft states that near a cascade four miles beyond the beginning of the sandstone bluffs is located ‘Doric Arch.’ Both Charles C. Trowbridge and James Duane Doty indicate that the Cass expedition was responsible for naming the formation ‘Doric Arch.’ The following excerpt from Doty’s journal gives a good description of the formation and reason for naming it ‘Doric Arch.’

About midway of the rocks a stream of water is seen pouring over a perpendicular bank 70 feet high. The sheet is about 10 feet wide. Passing this we soon come to an arched rock separated apparently entirely from the bank. It is 10 feet from the waters edge to the top of the bank on which it is based; the arch then rises about 35 feet. On the right supporting the arch 2 pillars well formed are seen, on the left but one was discovered—the woods however obstructed the view. The arch appeared smooth and elegantly shaped. On its top and under it pine trees were growing –one very large directly on its center….This arch we named Doric Arch from the resemblance which it bears to that order of architecture.

…“The Chapel, which is reported to have collapsed in 1906, has left its name on current topographic maps. At the site of its location is a symbol and the term ‘Chapel Rock.’

While the arch connecting “The Chapel” and the adjacent cliff did indeed collapse in 1906, the intricately sculpted rock remains as Chapel Rock. The great white pine that Doty observed still grows on top of Chapel Rock, and the tree’s roots mark where the rock arch once stood.

Check this out background big and see more in his excellent Pictured Rocks slideshow.

The Pictured Rocks Boat Tour company offers free tours of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore shoreline for UP residents every year to celebrate Pictured Rocks Day. That’s this Saturday, so I’m celebrating the Pictured Rocks all week with posts to give everyone a taste of one of Michigan’s most amazing places. Want more Pictured Rocks photos? Michigan in Pictures has tons!

Grand Island National Recreation Area

Posted on by farlane

Grand Island's North Shore

Grand Island’s North Shore, photo by Rudy Malmquist

Whereas Pictured Rocks Day is this Saturday and whereas this blog loves the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, I’ve decided to dedicate the week to posting about one of my favorite areas of Michigan. ;)

Wikipedia explains that the Grand Island National Recreation Area is part of the Hiawatha National Forest. The 13,500-acre island is about 8 miles long and is located about a mile off the Lake Superior shore at Munising. Congress made the island a National Recreation Area in 1990 after the U.S. Forest Service purchased it from the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co.

Grand Island’s geology is an extension of the sandstone strata of the adjacent Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Island sandstone cliffs as tall as 300 feet (91 m) in height plunge down into the lake. A 23-mile (37 km) perimeter trail skirts much of the island’s shoreline.

Native Americans quickly found the fisheries around Grand Island to be a resource for seasonal and year-round living. Artifacts from as early as 3300 years before the present (1300 BCE) have been found.

Grand Island National Recreation Area is served during summer months by a tourist ferry and island tour bus. The ferry ride, which is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) long, shuttles between a dock on M-28, northwest of Munising, and Grand Island’s Williams Landing. Ticket fees and an admission fee to the island are charged. During the summer months, the ferry makes several trips to the island each day.

Also see the Forest Service site for Grand Island, a Google Map of the island and the Grand Island Ferry Service which has all kinds of recreation information including the fact that the island has bike-friendly roads & trails! Here’s a video of that gives a taste of biking there, and definitely check out frequent michpics photographer Nina Asunto’s blogs about Grand Island for an in-depth look at this island.

I’m pretty confident that the biking drew Rudy to the island. Get the photo big as Superior and see more work from Rudy in his slideshow.

See the Grand Island North Lighthouse, the Grand Island East Channel Light and more Michigan islands on Michigan in Pictures.

See Battleship Row on Pictured Rocks Day – June 15, 2013

Posted on by farlane

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - May 2013

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – May 2013, photo by gbozik photography

Battleship Row is one of the many unique formations you can see on the Pictured Rocks cruises. ABC 10 reports that this Saturday, June 15 is Yooper Day for Pictured Rocks Cruises:

Around 1,000 U.P. residents cruised Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore free of charge in a single day last June. The free cruises were so popular that the company is bringing them back.

“This year in conjunction with the Chamber (of Commerce) and the National Lakeshore, to promote the area, and that day we give free rides to Upper Peninsula residents with a valid Upper Peninsula I.D.,” John Madigan said, who is a co-owner and manager of Pictured Rock Cruises.

On June 15, the Alger County Chamber of Commerce is hosting Pictured Rocks Day. Bayshore Park in Munising will be filled with family activities and eleven hours of live music. “I think they have 35-40 exhibitors. They’ll be selling different products,” Madigan said.

The free cruises will leave the Munising City Pier every hour, on the hour, from 10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., weather permitting. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

FYI the cruises are just $35 for a 2-3 hour cruise that packs a huge amount of scenic entertainment!

Check it out big as a battleship and see a couple more shots in his Travels in the U.P. slideshow.

Much (much) more about the Pictured Rocks on Michigan in Pictures.

Lake Michigan clouds

Posted on by farlane

Lake Michigan clouds

Lake Michigan clouds, photo by karstenphoto

Gotta love film.

View Steven’s photo background big, in his Lake slideshow and see more of his work on Michigan in Pictures.

Last sunset in May…

Posted on by farlane

Last sunset in May - 10

Last sunset in May – 10, photo by sjb4photos

May 2013 was a horrifying month for weather out in Oklahoma as tornados slammed Moore and then hit Oklahoma City last night. While Michigan has seen nothing to compare with what the folks in the plains have seen, 6 tornadoes touched down yesterday around the state.

I thought this photo might be a great one to put a hopeful period on a destructive May. As for a hopeful exclamation point, check out last night’s northern lights captured by photographer Ken Scott! Bring on sun, summer and starry nights!!

Steve took this shot by Skyline High School in Ann Arbor on May 31st, 2011. Check it out big as the sky and see the whole series in his Michigan sunsets and evenings slideshow.

Michigan in Pictures has more sunsets for you to check out.