Basswood Island Articles

Discover the Park – Islands

Exploring the Basswood Island quarry on skis

Exploring the Basswood Island quarry on skis

Basswood Island (Wiigobiish-minis) is just over a mile out from the Bayfield Peninsula. Beyond its banks of sandstone and red clay you will discover evidence of logging, farming and brownstone quarries dating back to 1869. Crews used steam drills and derricks to cut and move the enormous, heavy stone blocks, destined for places like the current National Park Service headquarters in Bayfield and the Milwaukee County’s courthouse.While only accessable by boat in summer, you can make the trip on cross country skis when winter conditions are right. Friends board member Neil Howk and friend Gerry...

Love our Lakeshore: because sometimes you can walk on water to the islands

Love our Lakeshore: because sometimes you can walk on water to the islands

During this challenging time of change for our nation and for our national parks, Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore wants to shine a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting the national lakeshore for future generations. That’s the goal of our series entitled “Love our Lakeshore.” (You can tell us why you Love Our Lakeshore by filling out our simple form at this link.) In this report, Neil Howk shares the intersection of a late winter adventure and the rich history of the Apostle Islands National...

Exploring Basswood Island’s brownstone quarry by skis and snowshoes

Exploring Basswood Island’s brownstone quarry by skis and snowshoes

Cross country skis and snowshoes can easily carry you across lake ice and snow. With the right destination in mind, they can also transport you back in time, to the late 1800s when miners used steam drills and derricks to harvest giant blocks of Apostle Islands brownstone destined for buildings in Chicago, Milwaukee and Bayfield.NPS MapAfter checking ice and weather conditions, Friends board members Mark and Erica Peterson and Neil Howk took advantage of a beautiful sunny day to make the trek from Roy's Point on the mainland across the West Channel to the south end of Basswood Island. Howk...

A Time Capsule Letter to the Future Stewards of the Apostle Islands

A Time Capsule Letter to the Future Stewards of the Apostle Islands

What would you say to the future? Our 50th anniversary celebration of the creation of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is over. The speeches have been given, the cupcakes eaten, the candles blown out. But the legacy of all we have accomplished in the park, our honoring of the past and excitement about the future, will live on in a kind of “time capsule” being submitted to the National Park Service commemorating this anniversary year. It will include pamphlets and pins, photographs and invitations and the texts of speeches given. It will include the proclamation issued in honor of the...

Where in the park is Neil? The week 10 answer is Basswood Island

Where in the park is Neil? The week 10 answer is Basswood Island

As part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, we’re going on a virtual tour with Neil Howk, a man who has spent decades exploring the islands and teaching people about what makes them special. He knows the islands like the back of his hand. At the tenth stop on our digital tour, Neil is on Basswood Island. The island is at 46.8568° N, 90.7379° W. The era of quarrying Lake Superior Sandstone in the Apostle Islands began when the Smithsonian Institution tested stone from Basswood Island and found it to be strong and durable in 1869. This led to...