To read an article on the 2014 - 2015 window
restoration by
Karen Wells in the Lighthhouse Digest, please click here.
To read an article on the South Fox Island
Light Station
by FILA Vice-President Cathy Allchin
in the Great Lakes
Scuttlebutt, please click here.
To read an article on our first Camper
Keepers in the
Northern Express, please click here.
To read an article on Michigan lighthouses
incl. South Fox
by FILA co-founder Sandy Bradshaw,
please click here.
View of the Light Station from southeast
with the 1934 skeletal tower, the Boat House and
the 1867 Lighthouse.
A Lighthouse speaks to our Inner
Light.
The South Fox Island Lighthouse certainly
has spoken to many a person's "inner light"
over the course of many years, and that despite being
located far off shore. It was in the fall of 2004 that
a small group got together to discuss how to save this
remote life-saving complex. With no funds, no boat,
and not exactly knowing how or what to do, they had
a singular desire: to save the Light Station. Thus the
Fox Island Lighthouse Association (FILA) began its purposeful
mission.
South Fox Island, probably one of
the prettiest islands of the Great Lakes, lies about
16 nautical miles northwest of Lighthouse Point in Leelanau
County, Michigan, making it the most isolated island
in Lake Michigan. The State of Michigan owns one third
of the island, which includes the lighthouse complex
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural
Resources (DNR). With seven buildings and two light
towers (!), the station is one of the biggest light
stations in the USA, making the restoration all the
more challenging.
To view a map of the
area please click here.
The island is crescent shaped and
has 11 1/2 miles of shoreline and 2,100 acres of nearly
unspoiled wilderness. South Fox has no natural harbor.
A lighthouse was erected in 1867 on the southern tip
of the island. It was abandoned and left to decay in
1959.
Help is needed to save this light.
Saving a lighthouse is no easy feat by anyone's standards.
The island's remoteness and the cost of boat maintenance,
repairs and gas – needs are indeed great. Will you join
in helping?
Please have a look
at our Membership Information by clicking here.
In the years since the foundation
of FILA, much progress has been made. We have grown
from a small group to an increasing number of like-minded
persons unified in preserving this important part of
Great Lakes maritime history. FILA has partnered with
the DNR and also with the Grand Traverse Lighthouse
Museum in Northport, where a visual link to the light
station is on display via a live web cam.
Volunteer workers, donations and
grant fundings are needed continuously - please come
help. You can use the PayPal link below for a quick
donation or have a look at other ways to make a donation
on our Contributions page by clicking
here.
Fox Island Lighthouse Association
P.O. Box 851
Traverse City, MI 49685
You may contact
John McKinney, co-founder and President of FILA,
at (231) 947-1926
and / or Cathy Allchin, Vice-President
at (231) 883-7645
Upcoming Events
October Board Meeting
Monday,
October 10, 2016 at 5:30 p.m.
at
the Grand Traverse Children's Museum
13240 S W Bay Shore Dr, Traverse City
Our board meetings
are public! Please come
and see your
FILA officers at work. And maybe
you
can contribute something too.
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