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40-459: 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

80-458: A broad flat plain facing a sandy beach, separated from structures in the nearby village by a grassy field. An access road runs nearby. A number of structures were built at the station over time; some have been removed or demolished. Remaining structures in the district include: The Volunteer Rescue Station is a 1-1/2 story frame boathouse clad in cedar boards, approximately 17 feet (5.2 m) wide by 36 feet (11 m). A single first-floor room

120-477: A copper awl, pottery and the remains of a canoe. The initial European settlements were built by wood cutters supplying the fleet of the Great Lakes' wood-burning steamers with cord wood . Nicholas Pickard was probably the first (between 1842 and 1846). There is no record that Mr. Pickard owned any land on North Manitou when he began cutting wood there. While the record is clear that a wood-cutting station

160-399: A hip with a small gable (the gablet) above it. This type simplifies the construction of the roof; no girder trusses are required, but it still has level walls and consistent eaves . The East Asian hip-and-gable roof is similar in concept to the gablet roof. A half-hip, clipped-gable or jerkin head roof has a gable, but the upper point of the gable is replaced by a small hip, squaring off

200-419: A hurricane region, the roof also has to be steep-sloped; at least 35 degrees from horizontal or steeper in slope is preferred. When wind flows over a shallow sloped hip roof, the roof can behave like an airplane wing. Lift is then created on the leeward side. The flatter the roof, the more likely for this to happen. A steeper pitched hip roof tends to cause the wind to stall as it goes over the roof, breaking up

240-440: A rectangular plan has four faces. They are almost always at the same pitch or slope, which makes them symmetrical about the centerlines. Hip roofs often have a consistent level fascia , meaning that a gutter can be fitted all around. Hip roofs often have dormer slanted sides. Hip roofs can be constructed on a wide variety of plan shapes. Each ridge is central over the rectangle of the building below it. The triangular faces of

280-477: A system of trails, the remnants of the island's unpaved roads. On the west side of the island one may still walk the "old grade" - the roadbed of the Smith & Hull logging railroad. Wilderness camping is permitted throughout the island, and there are several designated camping sites near the ranger station at the dock. Filtered water is available at the ranger station, with limited natural inland water sources. There

320-511: Is covered with vertical batten siding, with bracketry beneath the eaves. The Manitou Island Association converted the structure into a quarters and a storehouse, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore adapted this boathouse into a dormitory in 1990. This dwelling, believed to have been developed by Life-Saving Service architect Albert B. Bibb, is believed to be the only one constructed of its type in

360-455: Is more difficult for maintenance; hip roofs are harder to ventilate; and there is not a gable with a window for natural light. Elegant, organic additions are relatively difficult to make on houses with hip roofs. A mansard roof is a variation on a hip roof, with two different roof angles, the lower one much steeper than the upper. Another variation is the gablet (UK terminology) or Dutch gable roof (U.S. and Australasian terminology), which has

400-426: Is one sizeable inland lake, Lake Manitou, suitable for fishing, and another, Tamarack Lake, which is now essentially a cedar swamp. The island is flanked by dunes on its northwest and southwest sides. Island mammals include coyote , beaver , white-tailed deer , and eastern chipmunk . The raccoon population died out due to disease shortly before 2002. Numerous songbirds and waterfowl can be seen; of particular note

440-507: Is rapidly being taken over by the woods. Now, after decades of regrowth, it is hard to spot any deer at all. All buildings built after the 1950s have been slated for demolition or have already been torn down. Though at various times it was the less populated of the Manitou islands, apple and cherry orchards were planted during its settlement period. Now uninhabited except by the rotating National Park ranger and maintenance crews assigned there,

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480-498: Is the endangered piping plover , which nests here. Human disturbance of the nesting area (near Dimmick’s Point) is disastrous to successful reproduction. Therefore, the Dimmick’s Point area is closed to hikers from May 1 through August 15 of each year. Bald eagles are commonly seen, especially during spring and early summer nesting season. Garter snakes are abundant on the island. There is an annual deer hunting season to limit

520-480: The American Foursquare . However, they have been used in many styles of architecture and in a wide array of structures. A hip roof is self-bracing, requiring less diagonal bracing than a gable roof . Hip roofs are thus much more resistant to wind damage than gable roofs. Hip roofs have no large, flat, or slab-sided ends to catch wind and are inherently much more stable than gable roofs. However, for

560-504: The Wealden area of South East England. Half-hip roofs are sometimes referred to as "Dutch hip", but this term is easily confused with "Dutch gable". A roof with equally hipped pitches on a square or regular polygonal plan having a pyramidal or almost pyramidal form. Low variants are typically found topping gazebos and other pavilion structures . Steep tower or church tower variants are known as pyramid roofs. A pointed roof seen on

600-662: The bear Mishe Mokwa and her two cubs sought to cross Lake Michigan from the Wisconsin shore to escape a great forest fire. The mother bear made it across, but her twin cubs, although they swam hard behind her, drowned in Lake Michigan. The great spirit covered them with sand to form the two Manitou islands. The mother bear lies and waits forever for her cubs to reach the shore - the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Most archeologists believe early habitation by Native Americans

640-538: The country. It is a two-story structure with cross-gables, and originally housed the captain on the first floor and the crew on the second. In 1932, the Coast Guard renovated the structure, placing it on a basement, adding a front porch, and reworking the location of the stairs. In 1992, the Park Service adapted the building to house staff. The Hans Halseth House was originally located some distance north of

680-438: The deepest woods. A 4,000-foot (1,200 m) lighted runway, now a field in "The Settlement" on the eastern side of the island, next to the designated camping grounds and firepits, was used to bring in the hunters. A summer colony grew on the east side of the island starting in the late 19th century. A group of successful Chicago businessmen built cottages (some of which remain on "Cottage Row"). The National Park Service occupies

720-759: 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. In 1854, the United States Congress allocated money to establish volunteer life-saving stations on the Great Lakes . The North Manitou Island Lifesaving Station was established that same year. Nicholas Pickard, a resident of North Manitou Island, requested and received from

760-414: The eastern and western sides of the island for the steamers to load wood while traveling up and down Lake Michigan. After the passing of the wood-burning steamers, there were several more woodcutting eras on the island - for sawn boards and raw logs. Among others there was the Smith & Hull operation on the west side (1906 to 1917), Peter Stormer's east side and north end, a World War II era sawmill (near

800-407: The effect. If the roof slopes are less than 35 degrees from horizontal, the roof is subject to uplift. Greater than 35 degrees, and not only does wind blowing over it encounter a stalling effect, but the roof is actually held down on the wall plate by the wind pressure. A disadvantage of a hip roof, compared with a gable roof on the same plan, is that there is less room inside the roof space; access

840-513: The government a lifesaving boat and the standardized plans to construct the station. The boathouse on North Manitou Island is the only remaining boathouse constructed using the 1854 standard plans. The United States Life-Saving Service was established in 1871, and the previously all-volunteer lifesaving stations were converted to house paid crews. In 1874, they took over operation of the North Manitou Island station. A new station

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880-410: The homesteads and most of the buildings of the island's former settlers lie in varying states of ruin. Various buildings are shored up during the summer months. There is a cemetery in the southeast of the island where some of the island’s former inhabitants are buried. The Manitou islands are surrounded by over 50 known shipwrecks; a few of these are popular (and protected) diving spots. The island has

920-597: The island other than those used by the National Park Service or to cart off a dead deer, or to move trash bags. No campfires are allowed on the island except at public firepits near the ranger station. Similarly there is only one water spigot , and one outhouse , in the same area. A legend attributed to the Ojibwe explains the origin of the Manitou Islands and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Long ago,

960-645: The island's southeastern extremity. The ferry dock and ranger station are on the island's central eastern shore, directly east of Lake Manitou. The island is in Leelanau County and is part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore , although it is over 6 miles (9.7 km) offshore. Park passes and camping fees are required. The island can be accessed by a ferry service from Leland; private watercraft are permitted with limited docking. No wheeled vehicles are allowed on

1000-455: The late 1940s through the 1960s, the William R. Angell Foundation, which owned most of the island, used the imported deer population as an economic resource, hosting hunters. The Foundation artificially supported an abundant deer population with commercial salt blocks and custom feed manufactured by Kellogg Company . The deer pruned the island's forests, giving an open, park-like feeling to even

1040-646: The old US Life-Saving Station (later the US Coast Guard) grounds near where the Leland boat lands campers. At the south end of the island was a lighthouse , built in 1896, automated in 1932, discontinued in 1938 and destroyed in 1942. After the foundation sold most of the island to the United States government, the deer population declined due to the lack of artificial feed. The woods have grown up, many clearings are being obliterated; previously open space

1080-407: The on-duty crew would wait. The building has lost much of its historical integrity, and is considered non-contributing to the historic district. The root cellar is primarily constructed of field stone and mortar, with a wood shingled gable roof on top. Access into the cellar is an inclined double wooden cellar door at the surface, down a set of stairs, and through a second wooden door at the bottom of

1120-562: The roof are called the hip ends, and they are bounded by the hips themselves. The "hips" and hip rafter s sit on an external corner of the building and rise to the ridge. Where the building has an internal corner, a valley makes the join between the sloping surfaces (and is underlain by a valley rafter ). Hip roofs have the advantage of giving a compact, solid appearance to a structure. The roof pitch (slope) may vary. In modern domestic architecture, hip roofs are commonly seen in bungalows and cottages , and have been integral to styles such as

1160-514: The site of the old dock in the Settlement), and The Lake Michigan Hardwood Company sawmill and later raw log cutting. Smith & Hull also operated a standard gauge logging railroad, the "Manitou Limited", running northeast 8 miles out of Crescent using two Shay locomotives from July 12, 1909 until 1915 when the timber ran out. Some island settlers turned to farming, growing apples and cherries; remnants of these orchards can still be seen. From

1200-457: The size of the population. Hip roof A hip roof , hip-roof or hipped roof , is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid . Hip roofs on houses may have two triangular sides and two trapezoidal ones. A hip roof on

1240-407: The stairs. The cellar has a round air vent on one side and a square screened hole on the other, providing air movement into the cellar. The storm tower is a four-sided metal-framed structure, made of open trusses with taper to a point 50 feet (15 m) above the ground. A 20 feet (6.1 m) tall staff with sidearms projects above. The staff flew an American flag from the top, and storm flags from

North Manitou Island Lifesaving Station - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-405: The station in 1984. The North Manitou Island Lifesaving Station is a complex of buildings located on 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land on the northeast shoreline of North Manitou Island . The structures in the district date from 1854 to about 1916, and represent a range of historic architectural styles, as well as the three distinct periods of lifesaving history. The Lifesaving Station is located on

1320-427: The station, and was moved to its current location in 1912. The house is a 1-1/2 story side-gabled structure with a gabled dormer centered in the front. The house has been modified several times, including the addition of a hip roof front porch and two additions on the side. In 1990, the Park Service renovated and restored this building to house employees. The Crew Ready Room is a pyramidal hipped roof building where

1360-622: The top of the gable. The lower edge of the half-hip may have a gutter that leads back on to the remainder of the roof on one or both sides. Both the gablet roof and the half-hipped roof are intermediate between the gabled and fully hipped types: the gablet roof has a gable above a hip, while a half-hipped roof has a hip above a gable. Half-hipped roofs are common in England , Denmark , Germany and especially in Austria and Slovenia . They are also typical of traditional timber-frame buildings in

1400-422: The yards. Flags were stored in a metal locker at the base of the tower. The Generator Building is a small single story shed with gabled ends. It has three windows and a single door. North Manitou Island North Manitou Island is shaped like an upside-down teardrop, with the now-forested body of the 'drop' surrounding Lake Manitou, and the tail of the drop narrowing into sandy, exposed Dimmick's Point on

1440-401: Was constructed in 1877, and a paid crew installed the following year. The crew initially boarded with local residents, but in 1887 a crew quarters was built as part of the life-saving station. Additional structures were built at the station as needed. These included private homes, built by crew members; many of these were later moved to other locations on private lots. The Life-Saving Service

1480-526: Was established first on South Manitou, many travelers who have left written accounts did not make it clear which island they visited. Over 150 years later it can be difficult, if not impossible, to tell whether some stories of visiting "the Manitous" refer to North or South. Margaret Fuller 's Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 , for example, very probably recounts a visit to South Manitou. Piers were constructed on

1520-593: Was merged into the United States Coast Guard in 1915, and the Coast Guard operated the station continuously until 1932, when it was determined that the station, lacking a protected boat launch, was no longer needed. The station continued operation with a skeleton crew until 1938, when it was sold to the Manitou Island Association, a private corporation. The Association used the buildings to house employees, and for general operation of their island hunting preserve. The National Park Service acquired

1560-416: Was only temporary due to the island's scarcity of natural resources and the abundance of resources on the mainland. Despite this, there are signs of activity by Native Americans and some of the earliest archeological sites ever found in Michigan are located there. This includes seven sites, mostly on the east side. These sites date back to between 8,000 and 600 BC. Items found include: stone and flint tools ,

1600-400: Was used to house the surfboat, and a small loft above was used for the storage of other equipment. The structure has been restored to its original appearance. The U.S. Life Boat Station was constructed using a modified version of the floor plan designed by Francis W. Chandler in 1876. It is a two-story structure with a clipped gable end, providing shelter for a lookout balcony on one end. It

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