Fisherman's Home: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Isle Royale National Park, National Park Service

Fisherman’s Home is located on Houghton Point near the southwest end of Isle Royale National Park. The park consists of an archipelago in the western portion of Lake Superior, within the state of Michigan. Primary access to the site is by boat. The Fisherman’s Home landscape covers approximately two acres of a small peninsula between a sheltered inlet and Lake Superior, and it contains a variety of structures and objects associated with commercial fishing activities that occurred at the site. Fisherman’s Home is an historic commercial fishery complex with a period of significance that corresponds to the era of commercial fishing at Isle Royale, from 1890 to 1955. It is significant at the state level for its association with patterns of commerce and social history, as well as for embodying distinctive construction styles common to the region's fishing camps. Associated features at the site include a residence, fish house, net house, three help’s quarters, privy, tool shed, store room, net drying reels, smoker, stone wall, and a sauna. The buildings are all vernacular single-story, wood frame, gabled structures. Two of the residential buildings are one-and-one-half units with shed-roofed additions. Most of the buildings are sheathed in vertical board, but many are covered with asphalt roll or building paper and held down with battens. A commonly seen structural feature is a four-panel door placed left-of-center on the gable-ends, with a window unit located to the right of the door. Some structures have small wood porches and rock steps at the entry, and all roofs have shallow overhangs. Although several structures sit on dry-laid stone foundations, many sills rest directly on grade and are deteriorating from rot. A number of the structures date from the late 1890s to 1910. Commercial fishing has been the most consistently practiced and longest lived industry on Isle Royale. The industry expanded in the twentieth century as area transportation and shipping facilities continued to advance. Technologies such as refrigeration, gas-powered boats, and new netting materials spurred a peak in fishing between 1915 and 1925. During that time, more than 200 people were involved with seasonally-based commercial fisheries on Isle Royale. A number of factors caused the industry to decline in the 1930s. Isle Royale became a national park in 1931, and new regulations, coupled with the onset of the Great Depression, made it increasingly unprofitable to operate from the island. Overfishing, invasive predator species, and decreased Great Lakes shipping also contributed to the decline. By the late 1950s, the fishing industry on Isle Royale was essentially defunct. Development and operation began at the Fisherman’s Home in the 1890s, initiated by the Seglem family and supporting various crews of seasonal commercial fishermen. Sam and Elaine Rude moved to the site in 1937 and fished with Sam’s father Andrew Rude until 1944, when Sam adopted the operation. A series of maintenance activities and natural disasters such as storms, fire, and ice altered the landscape during subsequent years. Mark Rude has continued to occupy the site after the expiration of the use permit, operating under an informal arrangement and providing maintenance and repairs at the property. Despite these efforts, fishing camps were generally not built with longevity in mind, and significant deterioration to the landscape has occurred. Overall, the fishing complex retains the character, physical qualities, and historical associations it had during the period of significance.

Fisherman's Home: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Isle Royale National Park, National Park Service

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