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When I think of the song in the headline of this story, for some reason, the old hymn Rock of Ages comes to mind and the minute I think of that old hymn, I can almost picture the Rock of Ages Lighthouse sitting silently by itself as a lone guardian in the waters of Lake Superior.
There is nothing about this steadfast structure that reminds me of an easy, carefree life. This is a structure that was built by a different breed of men and staffed by a different breed of men. Building this lighthouse was no easy task and living here was just as difficult. However, built it was and men lived out here in the best of weather and the worst of weather.
A number of years after automation, when a crew went out to remove the historic Fresnel lens from the tower and take it to the mainland for display, they found out just how hard life could be out at the Rock of Ages Lighthouse.
They were there on a calm day in June, when the weather changed with a ferociousness only known on Lake Superior. As the crew weathered out the storm, they realized what life was like for a keeper in a tower surrounded by a storm, and they were there in a mild time of the year.
First lit on October 22, 1908, with a candlepower of 4.5 million, it eventually became the most powerful lighthouse on the Great Lakes.
I’m not going to bore you with the historical details of the lighthouse. You can find that type of stuff in most lighthouse books or on the Internet. Instead I’m going to share with you some photographs. The photographs by Jim Billiar, a former keeper at Rock of Ages have never before been published or seen by the general public.
Living at the Rock of Ages Lighthouse was similar to life at any other lighthouse sitting in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by water. Some of the keepers loved it and others hated it. When not tending and maintaining the station, a lot of their time was spent fishing, playing cards, checkers and reading. But no matter where they went in the structure, they could always hear the rumbling noise of the engines.
In nice weather, things were pretty good out at the Rock, but when the weather turned, it could actually be scary. At the end of the shipping season when keepers were awaiting removal from the lighthouse, things could be worrisome.
This was especially the case when weather was bad and the lighthouse tender could not make it to the light and fuel to heat the structure was gone and food supplies would be low. One time, only one can of tomatoes was left when the lighthouse tender made it to the lighthouse to remove the keepers for the winter.
There were generally only four keepers assigned to the station at any given time. However, one night in 1933, the keepers had 125 people spend the night in the lighthouse. No, they didn’t invite them for a big party. They were the passengers and crew from a passenger steamer named the George M. Cox which was shipwrecked in the fog on the reef where the lighthouse was built to warn ships away from.
The magnificent second order Fresnel lens from the Rock of Ages Lighthouse is on display at the Windigo Ranger Station in nearby Washington Harbor. The remains of the steamship still lie in the water near the lighthouse and are a popular spot for divers.
The Rock of Ages Lighthouse is now part of Isle Royale National Park. However, the lighthouse is not open to the public.
Yes, today, a modern beacon lights the way from atop the Rock of Ages Lighthouse, but the station is silent and void of any human life. It now stands as a monument to another time, another era, but its silent beacon shines on to protect in modern times and into the future, a cleft for all.
This story appeared in the
July 2005 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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