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| Point Betsie Lighthouse |
The name Point Betsie originates from the Native American people who were in the area and communicating with the French at the time. The French “Pointe Aux Bec Scies” comes from the Indigenous word “Ug-Zig-A-Zee-Bee” which People of the Three Fires [Tribal] Council gave to a river flowing into Lake Michigan just a few miles to the south, where sawbill or Merganser ducks thrived. Translated, Point Betsie means Saw Beak Point.
Construction of Point Betsie began in 1854 and was completed in 1858, with service beginning in the shipping season of 1859. The lighthouse was constructed at a cost of $5,000. The light was the site of one of the earliest Life-Saving Stations, built in 1875. In 1900, due to a critical need for a day marker, the Point Betsie tower and dwelling were painted white, and the roof and parapet were painted red. Point Betsie was the last lighthouse on Lake Michigan to be completely automated; a white, Vega VRB-25 was installed in 1983. Before automation, the lantern room was fitted with a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens. The “wickies” operated this light for 106 years.
To said without light was to travel without a guide. After nightfall, schooners and steamers groped along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Thick fog masked the steep bluffs. To sail without light was to risk both lives and cargo. In 1858, a yellow brick lighthouse stood alone among the sandy dunes. A beam swept across the southern entrance of the stormy Manitou Passage. From dusk until dawn, through rain and snow, the keeper kept the light aglow. A life-saving station was added 20 years later. For the next 60 years, life-savers and lightkeepers guarded these waters side-by-side. Their lives revolved around rigorous practice and routine duties. At a moment's notice, they were ready for rescue.
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| Alonzo J. Slyfield, Physician Point Betsie Lightkeeper 1861-1882 |
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| Harrison "Tip" Miller Point Betsie Lightkeeper 1887-1908 |
Keeper Harrison Miller is credited with saving more than 100 lives during his tenure at Beaver Island and Point Betsie. Miller, with the assistance of his wife, Bridget, led a seven-man crew at Point Betsie Life-Saving Station for 21 years.
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| Harrison Miller |
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| Bedford and his men at the new life-saving station |
In 1908, Miller turned the station over to his nephew and former No. 1 surfman, Edwin E. Bedford. Aided by his wife, Anne, Bedford captained the Point Betsie crew for 10 distinguished years before joining Miller in retirement in Frankfort.
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| Assistant Lightkeepers, Medad Spencer 1894-1904 and Julia Williams Spencer, a descendant of Rhode Island's founder, Roger Williams |
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| Philip Sheridan and his wife, Grace |
Keeper Sheridan and his wife arrived at Point Betsie in 1895. As a teenager Sheridan learned the trade by assisting two lightkeepers, including his father, at South Manitou Island. He served a record of nearly 24 years in charge of the light at Point Betsie. Sheridan's assistants were Edward L. Gray and Knut A. Nelson.
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| A 1907 panoramic photo of Point Betsie |
The shoreline mural depicts Point Betsie in the early 1900s. Point Betsie was cut off from local communities without a road through the dunes. Yet the Point grew to become a small community of its own. Twenty-five to 35 people, along with pets and livestock, called Point Betsie home during the early 20th century.
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| Severin Danielsen Point Betsie Lightkeeper 1919-1928 |
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| Assistant Keeper Nels Nelson 1931-1941 his wife Augusta and granddaughter Virginia |
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| Edward J. Wheaton Point Betsie Lightkeeper 1933-1946 |
Yes, it's a gravestone, but there is no grave: Keeper Edward Wheaton made this gravestone to honor his mother, Martha Madsen Wheaton (1857-1941). She died in Cheboygan. Keeper Wheaton could not lift the gravestone into his car to take it to Cheboygan. So he left it on the grounds as a memorial to his mother who had come as an immigrant from Norway. She had married a lumberjack, Andrew Richie Wheaton, and lived in the Upper Peninsula. After her husband's death, she raised their six children by doing housecleaning in Cheboygan.
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| Gravestone at Point Betsie |
Lighthouses were placed in the Coast Guard by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939.
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| Henry LaFreniere, Assistant Lightkeeper 1928-1940s with Hattie LaFreniere and infant son Chuck |
The LaFrenieres resided in the upstairs apartment and were regularly visited in the summers by their niece, Sally Pryce, whose generosity has made possible the restoration of this Victorian-era staircase.
This 1919 watercolor of Point Betsie Lighthouse and barn, painted by Mr. Coughty from a picture. The painter was a cousin of Lyman Sheridan, son of longtime Point Betsie Lightkeeper Philip Sheridan. The Sheridan family has a uniquely prominent place in the annals of Lake Michigan lightkeepers. Philip Sheridan's fall from Point Betsie's tower while whitewashing the structure in October 1914, broke both of his legs, restricting his service for many months.
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| Kitchen |
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| Coffee Grinder |
The Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse, Inc. gratefully acknowledges and thanks the Empire Area Museum and the Benzie Area Historical Museum for their gifts and loans of numerous furnishings and artifacts that enhance the interpretation of lightkeeping and and lifesaving activities at Point Betsie. Additionally, many individuals have contributed memorabilia and other items for display.
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| "Tribute" Watercolor collage by Mary Kay Niemiec |
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| Augustin-Jean Fresnel |
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (pronounced Fre-NEL) was born in France in 1788. He was frail and plagued with ill health when he was young. Reportedly he did not speak until he was 8 years old, and his teachers considered him slow-witted. However, during his secondary schooling he showed such talent in graphic arts, geometry and mathematics that he won admission to the famed Ecole Polytechnique. Not suited to the military career that traditionally followed an education there, he completed his studies at the school of bridges and highways and became a civil engineer to work on national highways. He found the work dull and involved himself in scientific studies, developing new theories concerning optics and light.
In 1815 Fresnel submitted a paper in which he contradicted the well-accepted light theories of Sir Isaac Newton. The scientific community ridiculed him, but Fresnel was able to defend his position by devising an experiment still used by scientists today and referred to as "Fresnel Mirrors." In 1821, his impressive theories of optics gained him an appointment as Secretary to the Commission for Lighthouses. The following year he perfected his theories in the development of his new lenticular lens, now known as the Fresnel Lens. The first of his lenses, a large First Order lens, was installed in the Corduan Lighthouse in France at the mouth of the Gironde River.
Fresnel lived long enough to see his remarkable invention installed in many lighthouses, but his health was frail and he began to deteriorate. On July 12, 1827, the father of the modern lighthouse lens dies in Paris at the age of 39. His papers were published many years later. He has since become famous as a geometrician, engineer, philosopher, inventor and the foremost pioneer in the theory of optics.
Early Illumination Methods The Beginning ~~
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| Fires & Towers |
Signal bonfires, lit on hillsides or dunes near harbor entrances, were probably the first lighted beacons to air mariners in navigation. As ships began venturing further out to sea, towers were built for the beacon fires so they could be seen at a far greater distance. The first real lighthouse for which we have concrete evidence was built on the island of Pharos near the entrance of the harbor at Alexandria, Egypt in about 280 B.C. This structure may have been 450 or 600 feet tall and was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Pharos served as a lighthouse until about 800 A.D. and survived until an earthquake toppled it in 1349. The beacon at the top of the lighthouse was a fire in an open lantern room. Various reports suggest the fuel may have been wood or perhaps bales of cotton that had been soaked in a flammable liquid. Smoke guided mariners by day and flames by night.
1700s to 1800s ~~
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| Braziers and Stoves |
Iron braziers or baskets held the fires of most early lighthouses, and fire continued to be a major source of lighthouse illumination into the 18th century. In the beginning of the 16th century, coal came into use as a lighthouse fuel and was burned in cast iron stoves in the lantern room.
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| Candle Chandeliers |
Tallow candles were used in the first lighthouse to be erected in what would become the United States, the Boston Harbor Light, built in 1716. During the 18th century, improvements in the art of whaling produced spermaceti or whale oil candles, which burned longer, brighter and with less soot. Lantern rooms were enclosed with glass to protect the candles, and soon the light was amplified by the use of metal reflectors.
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| Oil Lamps |
In the early 1700s, oil lamps with solid-rope wicks made of loosely braided cotton became available. The three basic type designs were the common wick channel lamp, the pan lamp, and the bucket lamp. All of these were sometimes called Spider Lamps.
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| The Argand Lamp |
Aimee Argand, a Swiss physicist, invented an oil lamp with a hollow wick, which represented the first major advance in lighthouse illumination. The hollow wick caused a central air draft which better fed the flame. With a glass chimney which increased the updrafts around the flame, the Argand lamp produced about ten times the light of the older lamp designs. Combined with a silvered parabolic reflector, the Argand lamp became the standard for lighthouse illumination.
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| The Lewis Patent Lamp |
In 1810, the American Winslow Lewis patented an adaptation of the Argand Lamp for use in the United States. Each lamp was paired with a reflector and a lens. Lewis increased the light by hanging many lamps together in chandeliers which could be rotated to provide a flashing light. By 1820 all 49 United States lighthouses were outfitted with Lewis lamps.
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| The Fresnel Lens |
Modern Illumination Methods 1870s to 1900s ~~
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| The Kerosene Lamp |
During the Civil War, lard oil became very expensive and experiments were made with a new mineral oil, later to be known as kerosene. The U.S. Lighthouse Service began converting lighthouses with Fourth Order and smaller lenses to the new kerosene fuel in 1877. Because kerosene is highly flammable, it was usually stored outside the main lighthouse in the oil or kerosene storage house, usually made of brick or steel, which are fire resistant.
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| Incandescent oil vapor lamps |
The next major innovation came in the late 19th century when the incandescent mantle burner for gas was adapted for kerosene and introduced into lighthouses at the turn of the 20th century. From the burning of vaporized kerosene, the incandescent oil vapor (IOV) lamp produced a very bright white light similar to that of a modern Coleman lantern. The IOV lamp was efficient, burning about half the oil of the older kerosene lamp designs. This was a great improvement in the brightness of the lens.
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| Electric Lamps |
Electricity was used in some English lighthouses as early as 1862, but it was not adopted by the U.S. Lighthouse Service until 1886 when an electric arc lamp was placed in the torch of the Statute of Liberty. With many lighthouses being very remote and power lines not readily available, generators were substituted. However, reliable generators were not yet available in the 1880s, and electric power lines had to be installed to many light stations. Offshore light stations used submarine cables run from shore to provide them electric power.
Fresnel Lens Technology ~~
Why do Fresnel lens come in different sizes? This chart illustrates the different sizes that Fresnel lens come in from left to right starting with the smallest 6th Order to the largest 1st Order. There are no 1st Order lenses located in the Great Lakes region.
1st Order: The largest of the regular Fresnel Orders, was used to provide the light in major, primary seacoast landfall lighthouses and to mark extraordinary dangerous oceanic reefs where extreme power and light output are essential. Can be seen 22 nautical miles.
2nd Order: Used in seacoast and warning lights to mark headlands, dangerous oceanic shoals, rocks, reefs, islands, and in marking sounds. It was the largest lens size used in the Great Lakes. Can be seen 20 nautical miles.
3rd Order: This popular order of lens was used in coastal lights which lead the mariner from one point to another along the coast. It also marked sounds, the entrances to rivers, bays and channels, and often served as a range light. Can be seen 18 nautical miles.
3-1/2 Order: This particular order was in between size almost exclusively used on the Great Lakes where a Third Order lens was just too large and a Fourth Order lens just too small to mark the area. Can be seen 16 nautical miles.
4th Order: This lens was used in major harbor lights, which lead the mariner into the channel at the entrance of a harbor mouth. It was also frequently used on rivers and in harbors to mark shoals and islands. This lens size was the most common in the Great Lakes. Can be seen 15 nautical miles.
5th Order: Used in leading lights, showing the line of a channel or the entrance to a harbor. It was also used in river navigational lights to mark small shoals and islands in sounds and to mark breakwaters. Can be seen 10 nautical miles.
6th Order: The smallest of the regular Fresnel Orders, was used in minor lights, showing the line of branch or secondary channels or the ends of piers, breakwaters and jetties. Can be seen 5 nautical miles.
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| Third Order Fresnel Lens |
Fresnel Lens Technology ~~
The earliest lighthouse lenses were fixed lenses, but the steady light they produced could easily be confused with lights of cities. To help distinguish the beacon from city lights or other lighthouses, beacons were given a certain flashing patterns or characteristics. This was generally accomplished by placing "bullseye" panels in the lens apparatus and by rotating the lens. As the bullseye panel passed between the light source and the eye of the beholder, a flash could occur. A characteristic could also include red flashes when a red panel was placed over a bullseye, or a pane of the lantern room glass. In some lighthouses, red panes called sectors were placed in stationery locations along the lantern room storm windows to provide a red light warning when mariners were approaching dangerous waters.
In order to provide the characteristic of distinguishing one light from another, the clock work mechanism was developed that would either cause opaque panels to rotate around the lens, or in the case of a bullseye lens, rotate the entire lens. These devices were very similar to those on a "grandfather's" clock. The speed of the clock works could be adjusted to produce a desired characteristic different from other lights in the area, thus by seeing the light, the mariner could determine his location. Clock work mechanisms typically needed to be wound every 6 to 12 hours.
How does a Fresnel lens work? Fresnel lenses work on the principles of reflection and refraction of light. When light passes through any transparent substance like water or glass, it slows down and bends as it enters the surface. As the light rays exit this material, they speed up and bend again. Fresnel used his knowledge of this phenomenon to create the rows of prisms that bend light and force most of the light rays to exit horizontally. The central prism is spherical and also collects and focuses some light rays. The ranks of prisms that surround the central lens are called dioptric, which means that they refract light. The upper and lower rows of prisms that are farther from the central lens are called catadioptric. They refract light and are designed to reflect and intensify the light when it strikes the back inside wall of the prism. Each row of prisms is designed to capture light rays that are missed by the prisms above and below it. Only 17% of the light is not captured which exists the very top and bottom of the lens, making a very efficient light source.
What is a Fresnel lens? A Fresnel lens is what makes the relatively weak light source at the top of a lighthouse strong enough to be seen miles away. The Fresnel lens is actually a combination of lenses and prisms that collect the light into a single beam. Fresnel lenses are ranked by size or order, with first order originally being the largest and sixth order being the smallest. Other sizes have been developed over the years.
The fixed Fresnel lens emits a steady, unblinking light. The central lens, called a drum or barrel lens, is surrounded by prisms above and below. Sometimes fixed lights were made to blink or flash by using external rotating lens panels or by covering and uncovering the lantern inside the lens. Some lenses on the back side used silver coated copper reflector panels or double reflecting prisms that help intensify the light back through the front of the lens.
The rotating Fresnel lens is made up of prisms and bullseye panels. The bullseyes are spherical lenses surrounded by rings of prisms, and they focus some of the light from the central light source. Other light rays are captured by the upper and lower prisms. Unlike earlier systems of lighthouse illumination, the Fresnel lens apparatus captures over 80% of the light and directs it outward in a single beam. the flash pattern of a lighthouse lens is called its characteristic. The beacon appears to flash each time a bullseye rotates past the observer's line of sight.
Constant Watch ~~ Ships in distress could not call for help in the days before radio. The crew at Point Betsie kept their eyes peeled for trouble on the water. During the day a surfman scanned the horizon through a telescope in a lookout tower on top of the station. At night the crew took turns hiking on beach patrol. The men walked two miles in each direction, even in heavy rain and snowstorms.
Daily chores at Point Betsie worked like clockwork. The keeper fueled the light, cleaned the plate glass, polished brass, painted buildings, and maintained all the equipment. The life-savers drilled with their boats and equipment. Each day had a specific drill -- including first aid, signaling, artificial respiration, and boat practice -- to prepare the men for rescue.
Time is of the essence in a shipwreck rescue. The Point Betsie life-savers trained daily to prepare for actual emergencies. Each month, the men practiced beach apparatus drills at night in order to learn how to perform their duties in pitch darkness.
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| Point Betsie Coast Guard, Point Betsie |
The life-savers anchored a drill pole on the beach to mimic the mast of a stranded ship. To practice, the captain fired a line over the drill pole and the crew rapidly rigged the breeches buoy. The drill ended when the "victim" climbed into the breeches buoy -- which resembled a pair of large shorts -- and was carried over 75 yards to safety.
"It was rather pinchy times for us at the Light. We did not have butter to speak of because they wasn't any to be had, nor any fresh meat -- only what I used to kill: partridges, squirrels, rabbits, etc., and they were not very plenty." ~~ Charles Slyfield, on the winter of 1865
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| Charles B. Slyfield with his wife, Lucetta, was a son of Alonzo J. Slyfield, Point Betsie's fourth Lighthouse Keeper (1861-1882) |
Family Life ~~ Point Betsie's families lived off the land and lake as much as possible in the early years. The nearest grocery store was a several-mile hike away. To supplement the keeper's meager income, families would make barrels, build boats, or salvage parts off old schooners. Children spread fishing nets and helped bring in the daily catch.
"When I was very young, Aunt Hattie would wake me early and dress me in front of the big, shiny coal stove. Then Uncle Hank would take me on his morning chores -- raising the flag, feeding the hummingbirds, and helping me up the tower steps. He would polish the lens and wrap the cloth around them. Then, we would head back to the kitchen for breakfast." ~~ Sally Pryce, niece of the LaFrenieres
The Life of Betsie ~~ Betsie is a rare example of a Coast Guard small craft commonly used to supply and service isolated lighthouses. This artifact calls Betsie Lighthouse its home.
This early 1940s motor launch was built at the Coast Guard Boat Yard at Curtis Bay, near Baltimore. Betsie, originally named Ojibway, served at the Rock of Ages Lighthouse in Lake Superior. It hung from the davits of the lighthouse when not in use. Betsie was transferred to Isle Royale National Park for use by rangers patrolling the island. In the early 1950s, a visitor purchased the boat from the Park Service for just one dollar. He renamed her Dory, after his wife, and used the small craft for fishing and transportation in northern Lake Huron.
Motor launches were used to deliver personnel and supplies to Point Betsie. These long boats traveled back and forth from a large supply ship, called a lighthouse tender. The motor launch could be raised aboard the tender and lowered by its hoisting rings near the bow and stern. Motor launches were also used to set buoys, aid boaters, and respond to emergencies on the lake.
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| USLSS Beach Cart |
This beach cart was used in the rescue of the St. Lawrence shipwreck in 1898. The Point Betsie crew hauled rescue equipment and survivors a total of 14 miles that night through the deep snow. The cart doubled as an ambulance to carry four nearly frozen victims to the Point Betsie Life-Saving Station.
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| Dobbins Boat Model |
The Dobbins surf-lifeboat combined the lightness and agility of a surf boat with the self-bailing and self-righting ability of a rescue-lifeboat. The Dobbins was especially designed for use on the Great Lakes and varied in length from 24 feet to 32 feet. Builders filled the hull with cork so the boat could not sink even if badly damaged.
The women of Point Betsie were the supporting rock behind the St. Lawrence rescue. The rescuers dropped off the frozen survivors at the station and returned to the wreck site.
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| Soapstone |
The women of the station wrapped survivors in hot blankets. In the 19th century, blankets were heated with soapstone. This porous stone absorbed heat in a fire and slowly radiated warmth overnight.
Bridget Harkins Miller, wife of Captain Miller, was the mistress of a life-saving station for 32 years. During that time she raised 10 children and cared for numerous people brought to her house in need of help.
It was the women's responsibility to revive the victims and nurse them back to health. This was a task that the captain's wife and her children knew well. Mrs. Miller and the children gathered dry clothes and prepared cots at the station. Hot coffee gurgled on the stove. Medical supplies were brought from the first aid chest. Wives of surfmen frequently withstood blasts of icy slush and gathered driftwood logs to build bonfires. The flames helped the rescuers identify locations to land the surf boat and warmed the shipwrecked survivors.
A fierce snowstorm churned the waters of Lake Michigan on November 25, 1898. The St. Lawrence steamer headed for safe harbor. As night fell, the steamer's hull wedged into a sandbar two miles south of Point Betsie. Heaving waves threatened to batter the ship to pieces.
Fifteen lives aboard were now in the hands of the men and women at Point Betsie. Life-savers practiced daily for shipwrecks. Yet no staged scenario could match the gale that whipped 22 inches of blinding snow ashore. Unable to use the usual rescue methods, the quick-thinking captain charted a different course of action. The rescue of the St. Lawrence would be one of the most innovative and dangerous in U.S. Life-Saving Service history.
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| Point Betsie's life-saving crew in front of the original station |
Point Betsie rescuers suspected their first and second shots of the Lyle gun missed the target. Disappointed, the crew began to tug the first line back to shore. The St. Lawrence's steam whistle blasted a call of hope. Miraculously, the line fired by the Lyle gun landed on the ship's whistle cord. Only when they heard their own whistle blow did the shipwrecked sailors realize a rescue line reached the ship.
Sailors aboard the St. Lawrence hauled in the line for the breeches buoy, a rescue device that operated like a zip line. It would be in vain -- the rope tangled and froze as it reached the steamer. Yet a rope still connected the rescuers to the wreck. Captain Miller ordered his men to harness the surfboat to the rope and to launch the boat back into the storm. This time the crew pulled the surfboat hand-over-hand through the crashing waves. They made the cold journey twice, each time carrying five victims from the St. Lawrence to safety.
When the breeches buoy equipment tangled, the surfboat and rope provided the next plan of attack. The 26-foot long Monomoy boat was light, agile, and strong enough to handle the waves.
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| Original Point Betsie Lighthouse |
Point Betsie Lighthouse cast its first beam of light across Lake Michigan on October 20, 1858. Dr. Alonzo Slyfield, former keeper of the South Manitou Island Light, became the fourth keeper of the Point Betsie Light in 1861. Slyfield's 22-year tenure required self-sufficiency in the sparce landscape of northeastern Lake Michigan. In addition to his light-keeping duties, Slyfield provided medical and dental services to the citizens of Benzie County.
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| Keeper's Tools |
Dr. Slyfield's medical and dental instruments, and a small pitcher for measuring whale oil for the lighthouse lamp. Keepers used red lead to make paint more durable.
Fog posed a serious danger to vessels traveling along Lake Michigan. Point Betsie's light could not break through the thick clouds that settled just above the water. The Lighthouse Board first requested a steam-powered fog signal in 1879. It would take 12 years to appropriate $5,000 from Congress to install a fog signal at Point Betsie. Mariners groping along the shoreline could now listen for the low, mournful sound of the signal echoing across the lake. Operating the signal required extra manpower and supplies. In 1893 alone, the steam whistle consumed 11.5 tons of coal and 19.5 cords of wood. Soren Christenson and Medad Spencer recorded 1,312 hours feeding the boiler in the spring of 1894.
It was not until 1924 that a gravel path was finally created into Point Betsie. Before that supplies had to be brought in by boat or carried on foot along the beach. Electricity spread throughout the United States in the early 20th century. At Point Betsie, electricity sent a stronger beam of light across Lake Michigan. It also meant a crew had less work to keep the the light going. In 1922, a 200-watt, 110-volt bulb joined the station's fourth-order Fresnel lens in the tower.
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| High-wattage electric bulb |
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| Instruction Board |
Life-savers fired a rope out to shipwrecked sailors. This instruction board was the first piece of rescue gear they received. The board told the sailors how to rig the breeches buoy for their rescue.
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| Oil House |
Prior to 1892, large quantities of kerosene that fueled Point Betsie' beacon and apartment lamps, etc., was kept at the base of the lighthouse's tower. As at other light stations, a separate building was erected here in 1892 to provide safer storage of up to 360 gallons of this potentially explosive fuel so an accident would not threaten the lighthouse itself. Initially sited on a concrete foundation between the lighthouse and the fog signal building, this iron-sided structure was moved to its current location and used as a paint locker after the light station was electrified.
The last section in the Point Betsie Lighthouse talks about the flora and fauna of the area ~~
Since 2003 The Nature Conservancy have been battling this terrible weed that has spread over 100 miles up and down the shore. Invasive plants are capable of destroying the dunes and coastal system. If a way is not found to eliminate and manage these plants, the dunes will be altered forever, native grasses and plants will be crowded out, the natural dynamic movement of sand will be altered.
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| Baby's Breath Root |
Since 2003 The Nature Conservancy have been battling this terrible weed that has spread over 100 miles up and down the shore. Invasive plants are capable of destroying the dunes and coastal system. If a way is not found to eliminate and manage these plants, the dunes will be altered forever, native grasses and plants will be crowded out, the natural dynamic movement of sand will be altered.
Baby's Breath = Dune's Death. That pretty little white flower in our bouquets and corsages is a big problem for the dunes. Research tells us this alien arrived and took hold back around the 1960s and has spread along Lake Michigan's shores. Baby's Breath in the garden may have seemed beautiful, but it was a big mistake.
Other aliens that threaten the coastlines ~~ Why are these plants enemies? They crowd out native plants. Knapweed loves sandy soil, roadsides and trails. It also releases a toxin into the soil that makes it hard for native plants to grow. Phragmites fills in wetlands, an important part of our coastal systems, and blocks our beautiful views.
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| Knapweed |
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| Phragmites |
The Zetterberg Preserve was established in 1989 with a 71-acre preserve donation by Steven and Connie Zetterberg, it now spans 145-acres of sand dunes and associated ecosystems surrounding the Point Betsie Lighthouse.
This preserve is a stunning example of a parabolic dune system, created by the wind and waves of Lake Michigan over thousands of years. It is part of the world's largest freshwater dunes system, encompassing 275,000 acres of Great Lakes shoreline, but found in highest concentration along the western Lower Peninsula. Parabolic dunes get their name from the U-shaped "parabolas" that are formed as prevailing winds continuously cave and re-shape the sands of these coastal areas. As such, these systems are highly dynamic and ever-changing, a trait which the species that live here depend on for survival. The dunes support plant and animal life that cannot be found anywhere else . . .
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| Marram Grass |
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| Killdeer |
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| Piping Plover |
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| Pitcher's Thistle |
Despite their beauty, the exposed, wind-whipped sands of the parabolic dunes are actually very harsh and inhospitable to many species. However, a number of uniquely adapted plants, animals, and insects thrive in this environment, including many that are considered threatened or endangered. The federally-threatened Pitcher's Thistle is found only in the sand dunes of the Great Lakes, and thanks to ongoing restoration efforts, is thriving here. The Piping Plover shorebird, another endangered species, may now be sighted here as its population continues to rebound throughout the area. A keen eye may spot another very rare and unique species found at this preserve: fascicled broomrape. Lacking chlorophyll and therefore unable to photosynthesize its own nutrients, fascicled broomrape lives off the roots of the native wormwood plant. More common species, such as the Killdeer and the ever-present Marram grass, can be seen here as well.
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| Fascicled Broomrape |
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| Wormwood |
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There are four different kinds of sand dunes that surround the Great Lakes:
So now I head back to our first stop -- the Arcadia Overlook aka Inspiration Point:
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| Kitty Rothwell |
The Arcadia Overlook honors Kitty Rothwell. She retired in 2021 as associate region engineer of development, following 33 years of service with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Ms. Rothwell started with the department in 1988 as a transportation engineer. She rose through the ranks to become associate region engineer of development in MDOT's Southwest Region. She played a significant role in the Programming Process Redesign (PPR) that modernized MDOT's capitol programming process from a paper process to an automated process. She was also instrumental in the creation of MDOT's Marshall Transportation Service Center. She received a Good Government Award for her work on JobNet, which was one of the first electronic Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs in the country. In her free time, Ms. Rothwell enjoys volunteering, biking, hiking, and traveling to see her kids and grandkids.
I walked up by myself and left Jim and Lucy at the bottom. It was a long way up and Lucy would not have enjoyed it anyway as the steps are open metal grates. Those are hard on dog's feet.
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