Linda Osborne Cynowa

Thorington School – Part Two

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for August 7th 2023

Today, is the National Lighthouse Day, so it is a day to give some thought to these giants of maritime navigation that are still trying to survive. While not technically needed to do the jobs their were first intended to do, their historical significance in teaching what life was like, is of such importance especially to the young.

Instead today we are going to go back to some Washington Township history from approximately 5 years ago.

James M. Thorington was born on 26 January of 1837 in Washington Township the son of James and Sally Brown Thorington. His father would work the farm for 30 years being involved with agriculture and buying land. When he retired, he owned 700 acres in Washington. When James M married Mary Starkweather in 1857 and they raised 5 children on their 320 acre farm on Mound Road between 30 and 31 Mile Roads. James Thorington Sr. owned the 1/8 acre on which the school stands, with it being a part of his 158 acre farm. When the elder James Thorington died, his son James M. took over his farm and would continue to lease the school property.

Five years ago I wrote about the school in relationship to the Arcadia Publishing book ‘Washington Township’, I was hoping to bring to the necessary people the sad state of affairs for this important historical Washington Township school building. Over these years the Township Supervisor that is in place now has seen the value in saving this old relic of early education and has been working to make this happen.

With the school building being very near the corner of 31 Mile on Mound Road, the Township Supervisor, has found on 31 Mile, that the Township owns property that will eventually consist of a fire station and park area for use by the residences. The school building could be moved a very short distance and find a new home, with restoration in its future, to use as a teaching program for students. So what’s the holdup?

This is what the school building looked like roughy 5 years ago:

Todays look at the Thornington School:

As has always been said, when neglect is there, nature will surely take over and sadly, neglect is what has happened to this piece of history. So again I mention, ‘What is the hold up’? While the owners, have left this piece of history to rot away, for reasons unknown to myself, for the sixteen years I have been watching this building. They have been approached about selling from many avenues over the years. For the rotting boards being held together, by basically, nobody knows just what. The hole in the roof continues to enlarge, and each winter, we feel will be its last.

The only hope is what the Township can make this happen, and the owners will see the long term value to the Township. Basically they need restore this historic school themselves or sell for a nominal fee to the Township and let them save this school house for future generations to see what life was like in the 1800-1900 educational system. So once again what are you waiting for?

On that ‘wee note’, till Monday September 4th, 2023, Labor Day!

The two vintage images courtesy of the Greater Washington Township Historical Society, Thorington School today from the authors collection.

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‘Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast’

Linda’s Monthly Monday Mornings Moaning’s for July 3, 20023

The postcards have been secured, the research and writing has been finished, the editing has been done and on Monday July 24, 2023, the latest Arcadia Publishing, Postcard History Series Book, the ‘Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast’ will see the light of day. This will be a second of four books on the lighthouses through out the United States in vintage postcards. Using vintage cards, the book will show the lighthouses how they looked when they were maritime’s greatest saviors at their most important time.

During the time frame when the United States Coast Guard took over the care and supervision of the lighthouses, and the light keepers were found to be an unnecessary feature, the stations did start to changed. Many of the buildings and keepers dwellings, were found to be unnecessary, and a costly part of the lights that would be much better demolished as cost saving was needed.

But thankfully, many of the light stations were take in task by societies, historical commissions, and many of the towns were the lights resided, in order to save these historical treasures from being dismantled any more than was needed. These postcards captured these lights at their best.

As much as I have always loved to visit the lights and photograph them, I soon found that the vintage postcards with their original vision of the lights became more important to save. Most taken as early as 1900-1910. So now the task to get the books into the museums, historical societies, and bookstores where these lighthouses reside. And I always have Amazon to thank for their support.

On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday August 7, 2023, also National Lighthouse Day!

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‘Princess May’s’ Grounding

Linda’s Monthly Monday Mornings Moaning’s for June 5, 20023

Built in England by the Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. in 1888, the ship was originally named Cass, where in 1901 after thirteen years serving along the Chinese coast, the Canadian Pacific Railway Coastal Service purchased and renamed the Cass, the ‘Princess May’, after Mary of Teck, who was known as ‘May’ and would in 1910 become Queen of England.

On 5 August 1910, the Princess May departed Skagway, Alaska, with 80 passengers and 68 crew and a shipment of gold. The ship was steaming down the Lynn Canal at 12 knots under heavy fog in the command of Captain John McLeo, when it stuck the rocks near the north end of Sentinel Island early in the morning. It was high tide and the momentum of the ship forced it well up onto the rocks, with the bow jutting upward at an angle of 23 degrees.

The hull was breached, through which water began to pour in and flooded the engine room, cutting off electrical power to the ship’s instruments, including its wireless set. The wireless operator, W.R. Keller, ran to the engine room and rigged an improvised electrical connection with the engine room telegraph battery, and using this was able to send out a wireless distress call before the engine room was completely flooded. The close proximity of Sentinel Island helped prevent a major disaster. The passengers and crew were able to safely evacuate to the island, and the gold shipment was also secured. Later the passengers and crew were picked up by Princess Ena and other rescue ships and taken to Juneau.

Over a 120 plates were damaged on the hull, and the largest hole was approximately 50 feet long and two foot wide. Many attempts were made to remove the ship from the rocks, and with a cost in 1910 finances of $115,000. it was salvaged. The grounding left the ship jutting completely out of the water, where it would go on to become the subject of a very famous ship wreck photograph.

Sentinel Island Lighthouse is located in Alaska just adjacent to the Lynn Canal, between the main land and the Lincoln and Shelter Islands by Juneau City. Another famous image from the islands history shows the ‘Princess May’ on the rocks from in front of the lighthouse itself. I unfortunately have not been able to acquire a postcards of that image. Postcard images are from the authors collection.

On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday July 3, 2023.

Chatham Twin Lighthouse, Massachusetts

Linda’s Monthly Monday Mornings Moaning’s for May 1, 20023

In 1808 two octagonal wooden towers, forty-feet tall and seventy-feet apart were erected, along with a one-story, three room keepers house. These 40 foot brick twin lights, pictured below, were built and established in 1841 to replaced the two wood towers used from 1808. The lantern rooms on the towers are referred to as ‘bird-cage style lanterns’ because of their appearance.

Around 1857, the bird-cage style lanterns on the twin lights are replaced with new lanterns that would used a sixth order Fresnel lens. But erosion would overtake these twin towers. These lights were left to the elements and around 1879 most of the towers and the keepers house fell into the ocean. For many years, the remaining base of the north light would remained on the ledge, with it becoming a tourist attraction. When first built the twin lights were 400 feet from the edge of the cliff, with the remaining tower would going over that cliff by 1940.

In 1877, two new cast-iron and brick lined towers were built across the street from the original site along with a new keepers house. The 48 feet tall the lantern room would house a fourth-order Fresnel lens and the Chatham Light Station would take on new form, as seen below.

In 1923 the north tower was removed and taken to Eastham, Massachusetts to become the new Nauset Lighthouse. The south tower would receive a new fourth-order Fresnel lens. Over the years the Light Station would make many changes. The Chatham Light was automated in 1982.

A thank you to the ‘Lighthouse Digest’ magazine, their May / June edition for the top two images of the Chatham Lighthouse and content. Bottom two postcards, part of the authors collection. The Chatham Light Station is one of many lights highlighted in the July 26 publication of Arcadia’s new ‘Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast’.

On that ‘wee note’ till Monday June 5, 2023.

Au Sable Point Lighthouse Lake Superior

Linda’s Monthly Monday Mornings Moaning’s for April 3, 20023

Two of the early lighthouses established on Lake Superior were at Whitefish Point in 1849 and on the northern end of Grand Island in 1856. In 1867, the Lighthouse Board felt that the eighty miles between these two early lights remained unmarked and requested $40,000 for a lighthouse to rectify this situation. The Lighthouse Board repeated its request annually, and then in 1871, it added that the lighthouse was “more needed than any other light in the district.” This seems to have prompted Congress to act, as the following year $40,000 was appropriated for “a light between White Fish Point and Grand Island Harbor.”

The Lighthouse Board selected Big Sable Point, named for the towering nearby sand dunes, as the site for the lighthouse, and work at the point began in July 1873. A circular brick tower was built on a cut-stone base with cut-stone lintels and sills. The eighty-six-foot-tall tower tapers from a diameter of sixteen-and-a-half feet at its base to twelve feet, at the circular gallery that is supported by sixteen cast-iron corbels. A spiral cast-iron stairway leads to the top of the tower where arched windows provide light for the watchroom. A third-order, L. Sautter & Cie. Fresnel lens was installed in the tower’s lantern room to produce a fixed white light, which thanks to the lofty bluff on which the lighthouse stands, has a focal plane of 107 feet. For the convenience of the keepers, a twelve-and-a-half-foot-long passage was built to link the base of the tower to the two-story dwelling. While the tower was whitewashed, the redbrick dwelling was left unpainted.

By the end of June 1874, work at the station was finished except for plastering, outside whitewashing, and installing the Fresnel lens. After this work was finished, Keeper Casper Kuhn displayed the light for the first time on the night of August 19, 1874.

Up until 1910, when control of the country’s lighthouses passed from the Lighthouse Board to the Bureau of Lighthouses, the lighthouse was known as Big Sable Lighthouse, but for some reason, the Bureau of Lighthouses started using the name Au Sable Lighthouse. While some say this was to prevent confusion with Big Sable Lighthouse on Lake Michigan, the change to Au Sable Lighthouse gave the station the same name as another light on Lake Huron. The characteristic of the light was changed from fixed white to a group of two white flashes every fifteen seconds in 1944. Au Sable Lighthouse was automated in 1958, and its keepers were no longer needed.

In 1968, Au Sable Light Station became part of the surrounding Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which had been created in 1966. When the station’s third-order lens was removed from the tower sometime after 1972, it was placed on display at the old Grand Marais Lifeboat Station, which doubled as a maritime museum and the lakeshore’s ranger station. After the lantern room was restored, the lens was returned to its rightful home atop Au Sable Lighthouse in 1996.

Top image take from the water side, circa 1920, courtesy of the National Archives, three other images authors vintage postcards. Images from the Arcadia Publishing book, ‘Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Great Lakes’. Thank you to Lighthousefriends.com for their content and their love of all the lighthouses. On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday May 1, 2023.