Rock Island's Lost Light

05/30/03 3:13 PM

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Dennis McCann, a Wisconsin journalist, said it best, "Rock Island had friends before it had Friends. The cemeteries tell us that." What he was referring to is the now uninhabited Rock Island which once bustled with life and, naturally, the living upon death, became part of the island.

McCann went on to write, "Long before Wisconsin even became a territory, Rock Island-the little dab of rugged land off Washington Island at the tip of Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula-served as a trading post for explorers and fur traders."

Today the area is part of the Wisconsin state parks system and that's why he describes Rock Island as being largely for the dead and the past, except for the visitors who come on the small ferry from Washington Island to hike or camp.

And that's where the Friends come in: the Friends of Rock Island. They want to restore the old Pottawatomi Lighthouse that now sits only as a silent reminder of another time, another era.

The nine-sided lantern room that once housed a Fresnel lens and guided ships to and from Green Bay is gone, having been removed years ago. What happened to it and when it was removed has been lost in the pages of time. The same is true for the Fresnel lens that was put in storage and stolen years ago. Another unsolved mystery.

The first part of their plan is the rebuilding of the lantern room and putting some type of light in the tower. Down the road they would like to see the station open to the public as a sort of living history museum with a uniformed keeper giving tours and perhaps giving people the opportunity to spend the night at the light.

But, they can't do it alone, they will need some donations. They are hoping that people will open up their check books. If you would like to make a donation, or find out more about their efforts to restore the light write to Friends of Rock Island, 126 Country Club Dr, Clintonville, WI 54929.

This story appeared in the August 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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