Split Rock Lighthouse

As we started on our drive up the north shore of Lake Superior, we spotted more and more signs of fall color on it's way. Another week or so should be full of color in this entire region. The Split Rock Lighthouse museum had an informative video of the building and operation of the lighthouse. The exhibits presented stories of the shipping and fishing trades in the area and the transition to recreation over the years. The keeper's house has been restored and furnished with authentic antiques from the period when the lighthouse was operating. Guides in period costume provide interesting details of living in the remote area and the work performed. The guide in the kitchen of the keeper's home also provided homebaked gingerbread cookies baked on site in the wood stove - yum! The view of the vast expanse of the lake was intoxicating for us all.

The lighthouse has been carefully restored to it's original form and includes the original Fresnal lens imported from France.
The interior was open for visitors to climb close to the top. The 4-ton lens floats easily on a bath of liquid mercury and consistently rotates for a flashing beacon every 10 seconds, when lit. Now retired, the lighthouse is operated every November 10 to commemorate the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

A view of the master bedroom in the keeper's house shows the comfortable accomodations for the family. Families could only stay during the summer months and had to be transported out by train or by boat before the roadway was constructed.

We took a short trail down to the lakeside. The calm waters contradicted photographs of the much stormier conditions at other times of the year. Storm conditions can cause waves of up to 30 feet, gale force winds of over 60 mph with snow and ice pelting anything in it's path.

On this lovely September afternoon, the lake only held gentle waves lapping the rocks - although with water at 40 F, no one was tempted to swim!

On another path back to the museum, we walked through a wooded area with more hints of fall color. One additional stop at Gooseberry Falls on our return toward Superior.

And one other stop for sustenance. Betty's Pies was irresistable since we had skipped lunch. We all had burgers and sandwiches - and of course had to sample pies. We chose Apple Crisp and Butterfinger Cream from a selection of at least 10 varieties.

The late evening drive along the lakeshore was a very pleasant wind down to the day.