Sleeping Bear Point Life Saving Station | |
Nearest city | Glen Haven, Michigan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 44°54′31″N86°2′1″W / 44.90861°N 86.03361°W |
Area | 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) |
Built | 1901 |
Built by | Robert J.B. Newcombe |
NRHP reference No. | 79000285 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1979 |
The Sleeping Bear Point Life Saving Station, also known as the Glen Haven Coast Guard Station, is a Coast Guard station located near Glen Haven, Michigan. It is significant as a nearly intact version of what was, when built, a prototype architectural design. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, [1] and is now the Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum and part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The Sleeping Bear Point Life Saving Station was constructed in 1901 by Robert J.B. Newcombe using prototype plans developed by the United States Life-Saving Service. [2] The station was primarily staffed by local volunteers. It was originally located at a site about a mile west of the current location, but the inaccessibility of the original site prompted the Coast Guard to move the station to the present location in 1931. However, during World War II, operations at the station ceased, and it was eventually closed permanently in 1958.
Ownership of the station was later transferred to the National Park Service, and it is now part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. [2] Beginning in 1971, and for several summers thereafter, the station served as the visitor center for the Lakeshore. [3] In 1982- 1983, the bulk of the Life Saving Station was restored to its 1931 appearance. The interior of the boathouse and the crew's bedroom were restored their early 1900s. In the spring of 1984, the station re-opened as a maritime museum.
The Sleeping Bear Point Life Saving Station includes four buildings: a residence, a boat house, a storage shed, and a signal tower. [2] The residence is a two-story frame building on a cement foundation with a wood-shingled gable roof. A porch with four square columns spans the front of the structure. The nearby boat house is also a wooden frame structure, covered with vertical siding and topped with a wood shingle hip roof and an octagonal cupola.
Leelanau County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,301. Since 2008, the county seat has been located within Suttons Bay Township, one mile east of the unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau. Before 2008, Leelanau County's seat was Leland. Leelanau County is included in the Traverse City metropolitan area of Northern Michigan. The largest settlement in Leelanau County by population is Greilickville, itself a suburb of Traverse City.
Glen Arbor Township is a civil township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 757 at the 2020 census. However, the population of the town expands rapidly during the summer months as a result of it being a summer colony.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station 11 miles (18 km) north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), the Michigan Audubon Society (MAS), and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1996. The three entities share governance of the site. The museum is operated by the GLSHS. The museum exhibits artifacts from shipwrecks from the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve and the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Admission to the museum includes a tour of historic buildings with displays that interpret the Great Lakes maritime, United States Coast Guard, and US Life-Saving Service history.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Located within Benzie and Leelanau counties, the park extends along a 35-mile (56 km) stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou islands, preserving a total of 71,199 acres. The park is known for its outstanding natural features, including dune formations, forests, beaches, and ancient glacial phenomena. The lakeshore also contains many cultural features, including the 1871 South Manitou Island Lighthouse, three former stations of the Coast Guard, and an extensive rural historic farm district.
The Leelanau Peninsula is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about 30 miles (50 km) from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan, forming Grand Traverse Bay. It is often referred to as the "little finger" of the mitten-shaped lower peninsula. The peninsula is a tourist hotspot, especially due to the popularity of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which adorns the southwestern coast of the peninsula. The peninsula is also largely agricultural, and is a production hotspot for cherries and wine.
M-209 was a state trunkline highway in the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. It was located in Leelanau County in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Until it was decommissioned, it was Michigan's shortest state highway. M-209 started at M-109 and went just over 1⁄2 mile to Glen Haven. In 1995, M-209's designation was "abandoned", and the road was turned over to the jurisdiction of the Leelanau County Road Commission.
Glen Arbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Glen Arbor Township, Leelanau County, Michigan, United States. A small tourist town, Glen Arbor lies on an isthmus between Lake Michigan and Glen Lake. It is adjacent to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Au Sable Light is an active lighthouse in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore west of Grand Marais, Michigan off H-58. Until 1910, this aid to navigation was called "Big Sable Light".
Point Betsie Light is located on the northeast shore of Lake Michigan — at the southern entrance to the Manitou Passage — north of Frankfort in Benzie County in Northern Michigan. Construction began in 1854, but it was not completed until 1858, and began service in the shipping season of 1859. The lighthouse cost $5,000 to build. In 1875, a life saving station was built for $3,000.
Glen Haven is a restored port village on the shore of Lake Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula within the now Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Attractions include the Lake Michigan beach, a restored General Store and Blacksmith Shop. The unincorporated community is located in Glen Arbor Township.
South Manitou Island Lighthouse is located on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan, 16 miles (26 km) west of Leland, Michigan. It is in Leelanau County in western Northern Michigan.
North Manitou Island Lifesaving Station, also known as North Manitou Coast Guard Station, is a complex of buildings located on North Manitou Island, which is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, in the U.S. The complex was constructed as a life-saving station. It is the only remaining station which was in use during all three periods of lifesaving service history, from the early volunteer period through operation by the United States Life-Saving Service and the United States Coast Guard. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998.
The Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station is a historic maritime rescue station and museum, located at Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Built in 1897, it was originally located at Nauset Beach near the entrance to Chatham Harbor in Chatham, Massachusetts. It was used by the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS), and then by its successor, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), as the Old Harbor Coast Guard Station. The station was decommissioned in 1944, abandoned and sold as surplus in 1947, and was used as a private residence for the next twenty-six years.
Vermilion Point is a remote, undeveloped shore in Chippewa County, Michigan, United States. Located 9.75 miles (15.69 km) west of Whitefish Point, Michigan, this historic spot lies on a stretch of Lake Superior’s southeast coast known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" or the "Shipwreck Coast". The servicemen of Vermilion Lifesaving Station performed daring rescues of shipwrecks from 1877 until 1944 when it was closed after modern navigational technology made this service obsolete.
The Coast Guard Museum Northwest is dedicated to preserving the heritage of the United States Coast Guard in the Pacific Northwest. The museum is located on the property of Coast Guard Station Seattle on the Elliott Bay waterfront south of Downtown, Seattle, Washington. It covers the full range of Coast Guard roles, ranging from protecting shores, lives and property to lighthouses and lightships, from life-saving stations to rescue boats, from buoy tenders to icebreakers and weather ships and from modern aircraft to patrol boats and cutters. The museum admittance is free of charge.
The Ludington United States Coast Guard Station is a Coast Guard facility located at 101 South Lakeshore Drive in Ludington, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The building is planned to be used as a maritime museum slated to open in early 2017
The Nahant Life-Saving Station is a historic coastal rescue station in Nahant, Massachusetts. The station, which consists of a residence and an equipment building, was established in 1900 by the United States Life-Saving Service before being taken over by the United States Coast Guard in 1915. The station was discontinued in 1964, and the facilities were converted recreational use by the Coast Guard. In 1999 the 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) parcel was turned over to the Town of Nahant. The station, one of twelve such surviving facilities in the state, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act is a law that designated as wilderness about 32,500 acres of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the state of Michigan. The newly designated lands and inland waterways comprise the Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness, a new component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
This is a list of United States Coast Guard historical and heritage sites that are open to the public. This list includes National Historic Landmarks (NHL), the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), cutters, museums, monuments, memorials and more. It includes only NHL Lighthouses. There are many more resources dedicated to lighthouses, this list attempts to collect everything else in one list. The United States Lighthouse Society, Lighthouse Friends and the many Wikipedia pages dedicated lighthouses are a few of the many excellent resources for those interested in lighthouses. This list captures the most important historical features, that is the NHL and the often overlooked U.S. Coast Guard sites.