This season at Split Rock Lighthouse Historic Site must be historic. The number of visitors who paid to see the lighthouse averaged about 1200 per day for two months, July and August. The attendance for the three day Labor Day Weekend was over 4,000.
What a shock when the the attendance dropped to 232 the day after Labor Day. Even during this brief lull before crowds arrive to see fall colors, attendance has been running about 100 more per day than a year ago.
A week ago two visitors spent a few extra moments in conversation with me. One man was the Navy pilot who found the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975. He said he had flown a P3 from Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, but could not land at that airport, so he went to Sawyer Air Force Base at Marquette and began the search from there. With sophisticated submarine hunting technology on board, he found the wreck right away.
As we talked further, we discovered that he had been on a short term deployment to Lajes Field in the Azores in 1972 at the same time that I was there as an Air Force Weather Officer. He may have been the pilot on the P3 I flew in as part of a cloud seeding team, trying to end a serious drought on the islands. Small world.
Moments later a retired Coast Guard Lighthouse Keeper engaged me in conversation. He had been stationed at the Devil's Island lighthouse in the Apostle Islands, 32 miles southeast of Split Rock, in 1968 and 69. He has maintained friendship with the Keeper who closed Split Rock Light Station when it was decommissioned January 1, 1969.
Most of this month, Jack Graham and his wife Tobi (Sue) have been volunteering at Split Rock. I get paid for what I do. Jack and Tobi are storytellers, but Jack also is the most knowledgeable lighthouse historian I've met.
The 100th birthday of Split Rock Light Station on July 31, 2010 undoubtedly was the highlight of the whole season, when a couple of hundred descendants of the various keepers were there, many of them visiting for more than 12 hours.
I have about five weeks remaining in this my 10th season as a tour guide/interpreter at Split Rock. This season is a keeper.
2 comments:
We visited a few years ago. By far, the idea of what life was like living at the site peaked our imagination and interest. Listening to the families of these folks must have been amazing. Glad you had a great summer!
One of the most memorable visits in the Keeper's Dwelling at Split Rock was when my wife's great aunt was there. She was a child in St. Paul in the 1920's, and knew that lifestyle well. She reminisced with visitors for a couple of hours.
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