The original 1847 Rock Island light station
By
1875, the old Rock Island lighthouse was found to be in decrepit
condition, and the Lighthouse Board issued a request to Congress for an
appropriation of $14,000 to completely rebuild the station. Congress
turned a deaf ear to repeated annual requests for funds, and it would
not be until 1882 that this prefabricated iron tower was erected in the
water a short distance from the old, decaying dwelling.
Rock Island light station after it was rebuilt in 1882
Finally
in 1884, two years after the new tower was erected at Rock Island,
sufficient funding was available to allow the much needed rebuilding of
the decrepit forty year old dwelling. Using as much of the original
foundation and materials as was practical to keep costs as low as
possible, a beautiful Queen Anne style dwelling was erected on the
island for the stations keeper. This undated photograph of the dwelling
from the Coast Guard Historian's office was clearly taken from the
gallery of the tower, which stood approximately from its veranda.
The new Rock Island light station dwelling as viewed from the tower gallery
Also
in 1884, a small depot was established on the northeast end of Rock
Island for the storage and repair of the many buoys used to mark the
channel in that section of the river. With the addition of its large
large timber dock, storage shed, crane, buoy car and tracks, much of the
tiny island was now covered with buildings.
The Rock Island buoy depot can be seen on the left side of the island
In
1902, the Rock Island boathouse was relocated onto this substantial
timber and stone foundation. In order to provide sufficient depth for
the keepers launch, the rock had to be blasted with dynamite before the
foundation could be built. Also at this time, the concrete walkways were
renewed connecting all the station buildings.
The boat house built at Rock Island in 1902
Rock Island light station as it appeared in a colorful postcard postmarked in 1912.
As
part of our GLLKA lighthouse excursion in the Thousand Islands in
September of 2012, a group of forty lighthouse aficionados boarded a
large pontoon boat and took an early morning ride out to Rock Island to
tour the light station. As you can see from this photo taken as we made
our way toward the lighthouse dock, we were graced with a perfect
Thousand Islands morning.
Rock Island light station in 2012
All
the buildings at the Rock Island light station were undergoing
restoration during our visit, as evident by this claw-foot bathtub
sitting upside down on the floor of the station kitchen. The interior of
the dwelling is beautiful, and has details reminiscent of the "Arts and
Crafts" style.
The kitchen of the Rock Island light station as it appeared under restoration in 2012
While
visiting the Rock Island light station our group was able to enter the
tower, but a problem with some custom fabricated replacement stair
components precluded out climbing the stairs themselves.
The GLLKA group lining up to view the interior of the tower
Because
of the previously mentioned stair problems in the tower at Rock Island,
we had to satisfy ourselves with this view up into the tower from the
entrance level.
The view up the stairs in the Rock Island light station tower
With
its dynamited slip and crib based walls, the boat house at the Rock
Island light station is a wonderful example of early twentieth century
field engineering and its excellent condition a real tribute to the
workmanship of the 1902 construction crew..
The Rock Island light station boat house in 2012
I
could have spent the whole day in the Rock Island light station
boathouse. With its exposed timber frames, the details are incredible,
and I would love to have had the opportunity to climb those stairs to
the second floor to explore further.
The interior of the Rock Island boat house
I
fell in love with these fifteen light uppers sashes in the windows at
the Rock Island dwelling. The white building visible just outside is a
square cast iron oil storage building which was erected at the upper end
of the path to the tower in 1905. Its exterior restoration was
complete, and it looked as good as the day it was erected.
The Arts and Crafts style windows in the Rock Island dwelling
With
Rock Island being such a tiny and rocky location, we were quite
surprised to see this relatively large area of grasses and greenery
between the dwelling and the boathouse. What a great place this would be
to sit and watch the world pass by.
There was a surprisingly large amount of open area at the center of the island
For our last post on the Rock Island light station, here is a photograph taken in the late evening on a prior GLLKA trip to the Thousand Islands area in October of 2010.
Sunset over Rock Island light station
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