South Manitou Lighthouse Beams Again
By Sue Clark on May 28, 2009 in News 
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May 30 Relighting Planned
Wow. May 30, 2009 might go down in lighthouse history as the “Day of the Relighting.” On that date, McGulpin Point near Mackinaw City will be relit, a new lighthouse at Richards Landing, St. Josephs Island, Ont., will be dedicated and lit, and now South Manitou Island Lighthouse near Traverse City will be officially relit on that date. If you can drive fast enough, you might even be able to catch the celebrations at all three of them. The lighthouse was restored through a partnership of the Manitou Island Memorial Society and the Manitou Island Transit (ferry service from the mainland). The light has been dark since its decommissioning in 1958.
One special bit of news about the relighting, is that the partnership contracted with Artworks Florida to build a $93,000 replica acrylic Third Order Fresnel lens for the lighthouse. It actually was installed last fall, but the season was too late to have any formal dedication. Work on the lantern room and the staircase was done over the summer of 2008 by the National Park Service employees. Oh, and ppeaking of Artworks Florida, they also have a fantastic DVD on Lighthouse Illumination. It’s suitable for use at a lighthouse to entertain visitors while they are waiting to climb your tower.
For the program on May 30, the superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes Park, Dusty Shultz, is planning an after dark celebration at the museum in Glen Haven that begins with a 9:00 p.m (EDT) interpretive talk about the history of the Manitou Passage and the shipwrecks that made the lighthouse necessary. As the sun sets and darkness falls over the water, the light will be officially turned on. Full directions are available at the NPS site.
The Legend of the Manitou
The Manitou Islands are part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and were an important stop for ships traversing from Chicago around the lakes. Sleeping Bear Dunes is also home to a former US Life Saving Station, and during the summer months demonstrations are held of the lyle gun and breeches buoy apparatus, which was used to rescue sailors from ships. Both islands have a lighthouse, as the passage was quite dangerous. There are at least fifty known of the over a hundred shipwrecks in the nearby waters.
The Chippewa legend of the Great Manitou a(spirit) and Sleeping Bear Dunes is oneof the more famous bits of its history. As the classic legend states, there was a mother bear with two young cubs on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. When a fire broke out on land, they had nowhere to go but flee from the fire by swimming to the other side of Lake Michigan. The mother made it to the shore but only to look back and find her two cubs missing. The two cubs were too exhausted to make it to shore and drowned in the choppy water. The mother bear stuck close to shore in hopes that her cubs would appear. While the mother bear slept, the Great Manitou rose the two cubs up and today that landmark is known as North Manitou Island and South Manitou Island. The mother bear remained by the shoreline and today is known as Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Legendary, for sure, as the new lighthouse will again be guiding mariners through the channel for years to come.
Photo Credit: South Manitou Lighthouse by Fellowship of the Rich. Some rights reserved.
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