A new 33-foot tall lighthouse has been unveiled at Michigan’s Memorial Park in Flat Rock, Michigan.
It all started in 1926 when William Heston purchased 178-acres of land that is now the Michigan Memorial Park. As part of the park, Heston decided to channel water from the Huron River to the 1-acre Sylvan Lake on the northeast corner of Michigan Memorial Park’s ground. A pump was installed at the site to accomplish this goal.
Today the Michigan Memorial Park is the largest family-owned cemetery and is operated by the fourth generation of descendants of Heston.
Kelly Dwyer, president of Michigan Memorial Park, and Heston’s great granddaughter said the family had long contemplated ways to hide a functional but unattractive pump is used to channel the water. That’s when she came up with the idea of a lighthouse.
It took a while to put all the details together, but eventually the lighthouse was constructed.
The park encourages everyone to come and enjoy the tranquil setting of the park and in referring to the lighthouse said, "The new lighthouse at Michigan Memorial Park represents a link to our past, an investment in our community and a beacon tour future."
Because they wanted the lighthouse to also serve families, they included 394 creation niches, and over two dozen were already been reserved before the lighthouse was dedicated. For more information you can visit their web site at www.michmempark.com, or write to them at 5871 Pelham, Allen Park, MI 48101.
This story appeared in the
August 2009 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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