Looking Back: Charlevoix saves its lighthouse
CHARLEVOIX — This Looking Back, fifth in a series, brings to a close the recognition of the 75th anniversary of the installation of Charlevoix’s south pier light. It was put in place on Sept. 30, 1948, the fourth light to be built on the piers that provide entry from Lake Michigan into Round Lake.
A celebration of that anniversary event, for adults and children, will take place in the pavilion at Lake Michigan Beach on Saturday, Sept. 30, between 2-4 p.m. No admission charge.
With increased usage of the Global Position System, or GPS, as an aid to navigation, the U. S. Coast Guard began “excessing” its lighthouse inventory in the mid-1900s. In 1997 it announced it would be decommissioning more than 75 in Michigan, the state that has the most. Realizing there would be a public outcry over potential loss, the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office established the Michigan Lighthouse Project which awarded its first grants to local governments and nonprofits in 2000.
The Project contacted Charlevoix in 2001 and announced our lighthouse was scheduled to be excessed in approximately three years. The city would most likely be eligible to retain ownership if it worked with a local nonprofit, which would act as steward. The city turned to the Charlevoix Historical Society. A tripartite plan was formed — city ownership, society fundraising, restoration, and maintenance, plus continuing Coast Guard responsibility for light and fog signal operations. The plan was approved by SHPO.
A Society committee immediately went to work regarding fundraising possibilities and to produce an historic structure report, with SHPO’s help, to examine the structure’s physical needs and their cost estimates. Even then, the first attempts at fundraising to save the structure had begun in 2003. A Keepers of the Light financial support program was initiated, signing up 133 names.
The report was received in 2004. The city applied for full ownership on April 18, 2005. Ten days later the lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ownership application was approved by the federal Secretary of the Interior on March 21, 2006. Full ownership was received in May. But the state and the federal government got into an argument about bottomland issues, who was responsible for what, and that may still be unresolved. Ownership was delayed, and an historic lease signed for the interim. The government still owns the pier. The Society entered into a written agreement with the city to become official steward. Restoration began that same year.
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The full extent of the job revealed itself: much structural corrosion, window casings coming out of the walls, the top lantern door swinging on only one hinge, the fog equipment pillar rusting away, the wood lining of the lantern interior decimated by rot, lantern ceiling panels falling off, and the rusted, deeply pitted ventilator ball on top above peeling paint along the lantern eaves. It had been a shameful example of governmental neglect. Someone had even blasted a pellet gun at the lantern windows, with one pocked pane held together by tape. The structure was, no doubt about it, on its way to falling apart.
Work started in 2006, and took three years. Every step of this restoration had to adhere to strict guidelines laid down by the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. When the lead-based exterior white paint came off, not one flake of it could be allowed to enter the waters of Lake Michigan. Estimated total cost for just the basics, no additions — $183,000.
Structural stabilization and corrosion removal came first, followed in 2008 by the restoration of the lantern including a complete reglazing. Then came crunch time — what is going to be the new color? The historic red, or the often reviled 1968 white? Fuchsia or black? Polka dot?
Since the government had relinquished responsibility, the choice was ours, but only to a point. There had long been verbal sparring between those privileged purebloods who had known the lighthouse as red and those poor unfortunates who arrived on the scene after 1968 and had only known it in its pathetically wimpy, governmentally mandated white guise. The issue would, we slyly advised, be resolved by the sales figures of new lighthouse merchandise commissioned and designed for the Society’s Museum at Harsha House store, those items that sported a red lighthouse logo pitted against those with a white one. It wasn’t even close.
In truth, another, not publicized factor which played a big part in the choice was the fact that SHPO highly recommended a color historically correct to the previous 50 years, a major consideration for state release of restoration funds. So all things considered, red it became. The project was finished in 2009, on time, on budget. And bright red our lighthouse proudly was again.
But all was not perfect in paradise. Within two years, people began to ask, "What’s going on with the lighthouse? It’s starting to fade to salmon."
Indeed it was, on the three sides hit by the sun. The formulation of the paint was not up to the snuff required. Expert advice was sought, and plans for repainting finalized. This was accomplished in 2016, when a correctly formulated Fire Red made it on, guaranteed to last for at least 15 years. That same year, an historic plaque was affixed to the lighthouse base. And there the south pier light stands, as barebones, no frills plain as can be, long a major component of Charlevoix’s identity. May the entire structure proudly remain in the best shape possible for another 75 years, this landmark icon of Charlevoix recognized by millions around the globe.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: Charlevoix saves its lighthouse
