Split Rock Lighthouse and the Edmund Fitzgerald

One of the joys of having spent time on the road doing research for the book was to visit places I'd seen as a child, but not since then. One of these tourist spots marks a somber anniversary today.

Split Rock Lighthouse, located north of Duluth in Two Harbors, was the result of public outcry after a fierce storm on Nov. 28, 1905, led to the damage of 29 ships. By 1910, Split Rock was up and running on the rugged North Shore coast of Lake Superior. Until advances in modern navigation systems rendered the lighthouse obsolete in 1969, Split Rock operated as a safety beacon, but it also became (and still is) a major tourist attraction, located on a beautiful and remote stretch of shoreline.

 

Certainly those cliffs could cause some wayward ships some problems.

Not to mention the not exactly sandy shoreline.

Visitor today can explore the cliffs and shore from the lighthouse by way of a steep, lengthy staircase:

The Minnesota Historical Society took over ownership in 1976 and has operated the lighthouse as a tourist and historic site since then. The lighthouse is located in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, run by the Minnesota DNR and open year-round. The lighthouse itself is open for visitors from May 15-October 15 each year, but the Visitor Center and gift shop are open year-round.

So why am I talking about a site that's not even fully open for six more months? Because today is the anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (yes, the one memorialized by Gordon Lightfoot). Thirty-three years ago today, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a bulk freighter carrying taconite pellets to Detroit, encountered extreme weather and abruptly sank without even issuing a distress call, killing all 29 crew aboard. To this day, the cause for the disaster is still under dispute, with various theories proposed but none completely proven. Navy submersibles eventually found the wreckage in two pieces at the bottom of the lake.

Whatever the cause, it's not hard to imagine how terrifying the last minutes on the Edmund Fitzgerald must have been. The tragedy is marked every year at Split Rock Lighthouse, which opens one last time before spring. A film about the Fitzgerald is shown at the Visitor Center, and at 4:30 p.m. the names of the lost crew members will be announced while ship bells toll. Then the beacon will be lit, and guests will be able to see the lit beacon from the inside of the lighthouse--the only time each year this view is offered.

Someday I'd very much like to be there for the beacon lighting, and to see how Lake Superior's wintry views differ from the summer view I enjoyed:

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

Comments

[cursingmama]

We lucked into a beacon lighting two or three years ago when camping at Split Rock Light Campground. It was a surprising & neat thing to see - but I have a feeling the clear skys didn't do that light justice.

[Angela Nickerson]

I've never been to Split Rock (though clearly, I need to go), but I do have Lightfoot's song in my iPod... perhaps I will listen now for a bit. Thanks for the memorial observation. Life on the Lakes has never been easy.

[Carrie K]

The pictures are just glorious. They mentioned the anniversary on our local talk radio station. What a horrible watery death.

[Dominique]

I love lighthouses and recently blogged about the 150th anniversary of the Point Betsie Lighthouse near Frankfort, MI.

Split Rock is a great light as well. We've been there a couple of times, although the last time we were in that area was the year of the "incident" (1999?), when storms knocked down millions of trees up there. We'd just picked up a pair of rental canoes in Ely, strapped them on top of our car and started driving to our B&B when the storm hit. It was a memorable ride!
Great week, though. I took tons of photos at Split Rock, going down those stairs and climbing back up!

The Two Harbors light is a nice one, too.

Thanks for bringing back some good memories of that last trip up there. We were hoping to get up there next summer, but unemployment here has put our plans in flux...hopefully, everything will work out as I'd love to visit the North Shore area again.