Greetings Family and Friends,
Watch the video to the right to see a 65 year old kid. I imagine that for anyone, getting to toot a ship’s horn puts one in touch with one’s inner child. Did for me! More on the ship, SS Meteor, later in this post. This post in general sees my first contact with one of the Great Lakes, specifically Lake Superior. Stayed in Duluth, Minnesota but sites visited necessitated trips north up the lake coast and across the state line to Superior, Wisconsin (about 1/3 the population of Duluth).
Tooting the Horn of the SS Meteor
The Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center is in the midst of Canal Park near the Aerial Lift Bridge. It is much more than a visitor center, with its many museum quality exhibits including one depicting a lake freighter’s bridge as well as others showing various types of onboard accommodation. Lots of ship models which, of course, I thoroughly enjoyed. Note the first two right after the photos of the bridge. The first shows an ore freighter from the side at a specialized dock while the second shows the other side where the railway ore cars are positioned to load the ship. I actually saw this setup in both Duluth and Two Harbors. The visitor center also tracks both inbound and outbound freighters so that ship watchers know when they can catch views of such comings and goings.
The Two Harbors Lighthouse is roughly a half hour up the north shore of Lake Superior from Duluth. The lighthouse began assisting ship navigation in 1892. In 2001, the Lake County Historical Society took over the light’s maintenance and thus the lighthouse still provides navigational help to lake shipping. The photos of the living quarters are those of the assistant keeper’s house, as the chief keeper’s quarters are in a section of the lighthouse that is used as a B&B. One can rent the three beds, one bath accommodation for roughly $600 per night, year round. I don’t think I would be hardy enough to do so during the winter months! Also, note that the pilot house of the SS Frontenac is on the lighthouse grounds.
The Split Rock Lighthouse is another half hour up the road from Two Harbors. Its appearance and stoney perch made it an iconic landmark of the north coast of Lake Superior. My photos of the lighthouse from the site don’t really do it justice. Look on the internet for pictures of it from the shore or the lake to get a real feel for why it was considered the most visited lighthouse by the end of the 1930s. The lighthouse was in operation from 1910 to 1969. My feel is that it was a bigger operation than that at Two Harbors, given there was separate accommodation for not just one but two assistant lightkeepers. The main lightkeeper’s house was not in the lighthouse as in Two Harbors, and that was the house that was available to tour.
That’s it for now. As always, feel free to share this link with anyone who expresses an interest. Next stop is where one can always find the circus.
Until later,
Papi
Love the horn toot!! I don’t think it’s possible to outgrow wanting to blast a ship’s horn (or a train for that matter)! Question on the Aerial lift bridge: is that more efficient than a standard split draw bridge or was the span too large for that? Or is it just for aesthetics?
NOAA does indeed have a pretty large presence in the Great Lakes region, and has a very prominent research lab there. NOAA provides a number of critical services to the Great Lakes region including fishing management and water quality containment. There have been numerous algal blooms that have poisoned drinking water there and NOAA does lots of research-to-operational work there to first figure out how to eradicate the algae and then put that research into action to get rid of it or at least purify the water so it is safe for the communities that depend on it.
That’s a good question regarding the Aerial Lift Bridge. I don’t know the answer as I don’t recall seeing anything about why the particular design was chosen. I wish it would have occurred to me while visiting the Lake Superior Maritime Center down by the bridge for they certainly would have known.