Cultural History Articles

History – Articles containing information about Cultural History.

National Park Service advances plans to relocate Chequamegon Point Light Tower

National Park Service advances plans to relocate Chequamegon Point Light Tower

(Apostle Islands National Lakeshore News Release) BAYFIELD, Wis. — Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has awarded a $167,400 contract for the deconstruction and removal of the historic Chequamegon Point Light Tower on Long Island due to structural failure.Long Island light in water - NPS photoThe National Park Service announced in May 2026 that the 42-foot tower cannot remain in its current location. Shoreline erosion and storm damage have caused significant structural failures, including failing footings, severed anchors, and damaged structural braces, leaving the tower at imminent risk of...

Friends volunteers tend historic gardens on Raspberry, Michigan islands

Friends volunteers tend historic gardens on Raspberry, Michigan islands

More than a century ago, Apostle Islands lighthouse keepers and their families planted gardens as sources of food, beauty and pride. The traditions continue today, with help from Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.This month, two volunteer crews joined the National Park Service to plant and maintain gardens on Raspberry and Michigan Islands. The process involves loading locally-purchased plants, tools and supplies onto a Park Service boat, unloading and hauling everything up the stairs and getting to work. The gardens are designed to be historically accurate. The vegetable...

National Park Service to deconstruct Chequamegon Point Light due to structural failure

National Park Service to deconstruct Chequamegon Point Light due to structural failure

(Apostle Islands National Lakeshore News Release) BAYFIELD, Wis. — Apostle Islands National Lakeshore plans to dismantle and remove the historic Chequamegon Point Light Tower on Long Island in summer 2026. The National Park Service (NPS) announced the deteriorating 42-foot tower can no longer be preserved in place. Shoreline erosion and storm damage have caused significant structural failures, including failing footings, severed anchors, and damaged structural braces. The tower poses an imminent safety risk. If not addressed, it threatens to collapse into Lake Superior. “Protecting public...

Friends Earth Day event draws dozens of volunteers, lakeshore lovers to Bayfield

Friends Earth Day event draws dozens of volunteers, lakeshore lovers to Bayfield

What's your memory of your first Earth Day, whether you were a college student or you were merely a figment of your future parents' imagination on April 22, 1970? Friends Executive Director Jeff Rennicke asked the audience step back in time as he recounted the history of Earth Day and it's everlasting connection to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.That connection is Wisconsin Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson, a man inspired by the environmentally disastrous Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 to change the world through environmental education and action. The next year, Earth Day was...

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...

Haunted Apostles? A Halloween letter from our Executive Director

Haunted Apostles? A Halloween letter from our Executive Director

Hermit tales, shipwrecks, lost sailors, the Apostles are a witch’s cauldron for the brewing of the kind of ghost stories that chill a Halloween night. But does the weaving of the dark threads of those tales say more about the landscape of the human mind than the islands themselves?Sure, there are stories of drownings and heavy lighthouse doors slamming shut on windless nights. There are islands with names like Devils and Manitou. Most of the stories told have explanations enough if you peel back the black curtains. Still, some insist there must be ghosts in the lighthouses, witches in the...

September 26th is Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Founder’s Day

September 26th is Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Founder’s Day

In this time of uncertainty in our national parks, it is more important than ever to look back at the wisdom and foresight of those who helped protect our most treasured landscapes such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. 55 years ago today, on September 26th, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed Public Law 91-424, a bill “To provide for the establishment of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in the State of Wisconsin.” Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was born.Devils island sandstone cliffs and lighthouse - Jon Okerstrom photoThat simple signature was the culmination of...

Love Our Lakeshore: A glimpse inside the Sand Island volunteer logbook

Love Our Lakeshore: A glimpse inside the Sand Island volunteer logbook

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." In this report Friends of the Apostle Islands board member and former NPS ranger Neil Howk tells us what it's like to be a volunteer for the National Park Service, stationed on Sand Island or Waabaabikaa-minis. Neil gives...

Friends of the Apostle Islands attends “Wisconsin Lighthouses” premiere

Friends of the Apostle Islands attends “Wisconsin Lighthouses” premiere

The spectacular lighthouses of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore are featured in a new PBS Wisconsin program entitled "Wisconsin Lighthouses," to be televised statewide for the first time on December 2nd at 7 p.m. Invited guests, including two Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore board members and family members attended a premiere screening and related events in Manitowoc on November 14th.PBS Wisconsin says, “Since the mid-19th century, our state’s lighthouses have guided generations of mariners to safe harbors. Wisconsin Lighthouses” illuminates the power and appeal of...

The fungus art of Raspberry Island keeper Francis Jacker

The fungus art of Raspberry Island keeper Francis Jacker

When you visit the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Friends board member Neil Howk is your guide, you're in for a treat. As a retired park ranger specializing in telling the stories of the islands, Neil has a special way of immersing park visitors in the rich history and natural beauty in the park. This summer, Neil volunteered at the Raspberry Island light, where in the late 1800s, keeper Francis Jacker exercised his artistic talents in a most unusual way. And where park visitors got the chance to do the same.Francis Jacker (pronounced Yacker), the lighthouse keeper at Raspberry...