The U.S. government reportedly spent more than $1 million over the years attempting to save and maintain the Turtle Island Lighthouse, once hailed as one of the finest on the Great Lakes. Today, the Turtle Island tower is a ruin on an eroding island in Lake Erie near Toledo, Ohio.
Turtle Island is off limits to the public, but I managed to catch a glimpse of the derelict light station during a boat cruise to view the nearby Toledo Harbor Lighthouse.
In 1827, the United States government sold the island at public auction in Monroe, Michigan.
By 1831, the government decided they needed the island just northeast of the mouth of the Maumee River for a light station to facilitate commercial navigation in the area. They purchased Turtle Island back from Edward Bissell of Lockport, New York for $300. History shows that Bissell may have gotten the best deal of all in the end.
Congress appropriated $5,000 to build a lighthouse and $2,000 to address erosion at what was once a six-and-one-half-acre island, establishing the light station there in 1832.
Fighting erosion continued to be a major challenge, and eventually a million-dollar battle, at Turtle Island.
Turtle Island, unlike most other Lake Erie islands, is mostly clay and gravel, which may exacerbate its erosion problems.
By the late 1830s, the island eroded to barely 1-1/2 acres in size. The government invested $16,700 during that decade to build fortifications and fill in the island with more sand.
In 1857, the lighthouse improved its visibility with a new Fresnel lens that mariners could see from 14 miles away, replacing its original fixed lens and reflectors that sailors could only see from six miles away.
After the Civil War, Congress appropriated $12,000 to replace the original Turtle Island lighthouse. The Milwaukee Cream City brick lighthouse, built in 1866, had a 44 tall tower with an attached 1-1/2 story light keepers dwelling.
Erosion-related expenses at Turtle Island continued to mount, with installation of a $15,000 concrete wall in 1884 as one of the last serious attempts to shore up the island.
When the shipping lane by Turtle Island became too shallow for larger commercial boats increasingly navigating the area, the island's days as a working light station became numbered.
In 1904, the government decommissioned the Turtle Island Lighthouse, replacing it with a lighthouse about 4 miles to the east at Toledo Harbor.
A.H. Merrill bought Turtle Island in December, 1904 for $1,650. The lighthouse changed hands several times. Vandals destroyed the property and stripped the structures over the next 30 years.
In 1933, the Associated Yacht Club of Toledo leased Turtle Island with plans to restore the lighthouse and use the location for the club and its harbor. The club abandoned the project by 1937, and the vandals continued to further the damage.
In 1965, a tornado struck the island on Palm Sunday, blowing the lantern room off of the light tower, demolishing the keepers quarters and pretty much destroying what the vandals didn't.
In the early 1990s, the nonprofit Turtle Island Lighthouse Restoration Association organized, planning to enlarge the island, restore the lighthouse and build a marine park. Those plans failed.
In 2002, developers announced plans to restore the lighthouse, address the erosion problems and open the island to the public with bed-and-breakfast accommodations.
There was a problem involving the state boundary line between Ohio and Michigan, though.
Turtle Island was entirely part of Michigan for many years, but disputes over the Ohio-Michigan boundary persisted throughout the nineteenth, and well into the twentieth, century. A 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision gave half of the island to Michigan and the half of the island with the lighthouse went to Ohio.
Michigan officials sued to stop construction of structures on Michigan's half of the island because developers failed to obtain proper building permits. The developers went ahead with construction of two homes on the island meant as vacation rentals.
In 2008, Michigan officials sought, and won, a demolition order for lack of proper permits or a plan to deal with sewage that the proposed business would generate.
Once again, nature stepped in to do some demolition work when ice floes damaged and destroyed structures at Turtle Island during the winter of 2008-2009.
It was sad enough to see the once-proud Turtle Island Lighthouse from the water, especially when you see historic photos taken of the lighthouse in happier days. You can really see the sad state of the lighthouse and its interior in a 5-minute video shot in 2010.
Want to learn more about the state's lighthouses and their history? Check out Ohio Lighthouses by Wil O'Connell and Pat O'Connell.
Thanks to Xanterra Parks and Resorts and Maumee Bay State Park Lodge, which provided lodging, meals and the lighthouse tour for my review, with no further compensation. I was free to express my own opinion about my stay and experiences, and the opinions expressed here are mine.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
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