Park and Local History Articles

History – History – Articles that contain information about Park and Local History.

“Once in a lifetime” letters from Outer Island

“Once in a lifetime” letters from Outer Island

Volunteering for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore can create once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Cynthia Howk spent the summer of 1986 on Outer Island as part of the Volunteers in Parks (VIP) program of the National Park Service. She documented her experiences on Outer Island in a series of letters to friends, recently rediscovered by her brother Neil, who worked as a ranger in the park at the time, and who currently serves on the Friends of the Apostle Islands board of directors. Cynthia's letters provide some fascinating insights into the life of a volunteer four decades ago.6/13/86...

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...

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...

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore biologist Peggy Burkman retires, reflects on the Lakeshore she loves

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore biologist Peggy Burkman retires, reflects on the Lakeshore she loves

After more than two decades of work in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore biologist Peggy Burkman retired in May. Her appreciation for the islands extends from the many native animals, birds and plants that inhabit the islands, to the important ecosystems and beyond. Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore board member Neil Howk sat down with Peggy to ask ten questions about her work, her adventures and her love for the Lakeshore.Neil: Why did you apply to work in the Apostle Islands?Peggy: I think that my path to the Apostle Islands started when I was a kid because I fell in...

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...

A President’s Day message from Friends of the Apostle Islands

A President’s Day message from Friends of the Apostle Islands

Presidents of both parties have long played a major role in the Apostle Islands. Republican Calvin Coolidge visited the islands in 1928, along with First Lady Grace Coolidge and their son John. The presidential family toured the islands on the Madeline Island yacht the Nellwood stopping on Devils Island for a tour of the lighthouse (he even signed the guest register), and to enjoy a meal of locally caught and prepared lake trout. To this day, Coolidge remains the only sitting U.S. president to actually set foot in the Apostle Islands.Democrat John F. Kennedy flew over the islands on...

Under the Big Top: celebrating Sigurd Olson

Under the Big Top: celebrating Sigurd Olson

How do you celebrate a life lived close to nature? How do you honor a life that has inspired millions to seek their own wild places? Perhaps it is through music, poetry, wilderness photographs, and asking the audience to howl like wolves in the wild. That was the scene under the Big Top on the evening of July 26th when Friends of the Apostle Islands and Wisconsin Green Fire cosponsored “Song For Wild,” a multimedia concert celebrating the legacy of one of the greatest conservationists of the 20th century, Sigurd Olson.The show featured the writings of Sigurd Olson set to music by Warren...

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...

Restoration of historic dock completed at Little Sand Bay

Restoration of historic dock completed at Little Sand Bay

The fabled gales of November couldn't stop reconstruction of the historic Hokenson Brothers Fishery dock at Little Sand Bay in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Battered by storms for decades, the dock and related buildings are listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and are the focus of a $1.4 million preservation and restoration effort by the National Park Service.This summer, construction crews from Pearl Beach Construction Company of Michigan used heavy equipment and a barge to rebuild the dock as historically accurately as possible, using wooden pilings and...

Oldest National Park Service Ranger retires at 100

Oldest National Park Service Ranger retires at 100

Our national parks are a place for all ages, young and old. No single person embodies that sentiment quite as well as Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest active ranger in the National Park Service who retired recently at the age of 100. An interpretive ranger at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Park located in Richmond, CA, Soskin used her formidable and rich life experience to share the stories of the efforts of women from diverse backgrounds who worked, often unseen and unheralded, on behalf of the war effort. Her programs, says a recent National Park Service news release...