HISTORIC REVIVAL: Restored Granite Island Lighthouse World Attraction
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Scott Holman camps out while restoring the Granite Island Light House.
Light station 1868 building sits high on Granite Island in Lake Superior.
Scott Holman, founder and chairman emeritus of Bay Cast Inc., has made a whole new career for himself -- as a lighthouse keeper.
A native of Ishpeming, graduate and former board member of Northern Michigan University, Mr. Holman returned to his roots with the purchase of an island near Marquette County.
His restored Granite Island Light Station in Lake Superior over the 11 years of his ownership has been host to charitable fundraisers, a wedding, legislative visits, and research projects by NOAA and University of Nebraska.
The building is a 2,408 sq. ft. stone dwelling circa 1868 with oil house, out-house, fog-bell tower and steel light tower. The 2.49 acre island, and light-house quarters is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (P24163).
The Granite Island light is one of six in the Marquette County area, also including the Marquette Harbor Light, Presque Isle Harbor Light, Stannard Rock Lighthouse, Big Bay Pointe Lighthouse, and Huron Island Lighthouse.
Increased lake traffic because of mining in the Upper Peninsula more about a century and a half ago was the impetus for government construction of lighthouses in the lakes.
With the discovery of iron ore in the area around 1840, Marquette became one of the busiest ports in the Upper Peninsula, "and Granite Island's location approximately twelve-and-a-half miles to the northeast, represented a major threat to vessels making passage to and from the harbor," comments a Marquette history.
In 1867 Congress appropriated $20,000 for construction of a lighthouse on the island. The lighthouse tender "Haze" delivered a construction crew and building supplies to the island in the spring of 1868, and the crew began construction with the blasting of a flat spot for the structure's foundation at the island's highest point.
For 132 years, visits by the public were not possible and few people even knew of Granite Island. But today under private ownership, thanks to the Internet, websites and live cams, people visit the Island from all over the world -- at least virtually.
Says Mr. Holman of the recent activities on island and at the lighthouse:
"We have been the site for an Amateur Radio Island weekend, the Ishpeming High School Class of 1959 reunion, and the provider of the infrastructure for the United Nations weather station as well as supporting the WIMAX service link from Northern Michigan University to the Big Bay School System. This service attracted the attention of the President of the United States who came to Marquette to try it out!"
Mr. Holman explained: "A year ago February, our current President came to NMU in Marquette, to demonstrate rural Internet exemplified by NMU's teaching classes in Big Bay using The Granite Island Relay and actually using the Island connection spoke with the students in Big Bay from NMU."
How did his interest in the island come about?
Mr. Holman was the first in the U.P. to have a SCUBA diving shop which was located in Marquette, then known as "Lake Superior Skin Diving Company."
"While a student at Northern Michigan University I would take divers out to explore shipwrecks and visit Granite Island," he recalls. By then, the light station had been shut down for over 20 years.
Your "keeper" has served as director for 12 years of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society at Whitefish Point, as well as a former chair and member of NMU's Board of Trustees, past president of the Steel Founders Society of America, and regional vice chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
My "Assistant Keeper" and spousal companion of 45 years, Martine (Biancardini), was born and raised in Paris, France and arrived in Ishpeming in 1965.
"April 27th, 2000 marked our first visit as new owners and the first for me since 1963. Detailed photo documentation was made of conditions as we found them. The stone structure was in good shape, however the roof had caved in and the elements had virtually destroyed the interior."
He comments: "One major repair job!! Logistics and access were the biggest problems, as no docking facility existed until we constructed a suspended steel dock and stairs on the South side and rebuilt the 1903 derrick."
The Granite Island "Navy" consists of a Zodiac which logged over 3000 miles in 2000 and another combined 4000 miles in 2001 with the addition of a 30' Zodiac 920 with enclosed cabin and an old 1946 gill net commercial fishing boat, the Olaf Mechelson. These work boats provide transportation for guests, researchers, and maintenance crews from the mainland in the lower harbor. In the last decade, the Island has been visited every month in the year at some point.
He says the "rock" has a lot of dimensional character with its cliffs and crevasses, "tide" pools and rocky bays. "Approaching the island by boat from a distance reminds a little of St. Michaels Mt in Cornwall."
Energy systems consist of solar panels, wind generators, a 5K generator for back-up and a bank of storage batteries. Each room is also equipped with a gas light as well as electric lights and a gas/log type heating stove. Archival research produced keeper logbooks and early photos.
Granite Island Map
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