Historic Structure Report: 1854 Volunteer Rescue Station, North Manitou Island

Mann, Kimberly; Herd, Bill

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau and Benzie counties near Empire, Michigan. The park covers a 35-mile-long (56 km) stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou islands. The development of this Historic Structure Report will outline the path taken to identify and prepare restoration drawings for the structure known as the Beach Cart House on North Manitou Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan. The building has since been identified as a Volunteer Rescue Station from the 1854 Federal Appropriation that began to place surfboats on the Great Lakes. Research included books and manuscripts written by a number of nationally recognized maritime experts who were also consulted to help identify the structure, determine the significance of the structure, and to comment on the existence of other Volunteer Rescue Stations in the nation. The current findings show that the structure on North Manitou Island is believed to be the only existing 1854 Volunteer Rescue Station in the nation. The major task directive of this report is to develop the historical context of the volunteer rescue era and U.S. Life- Saving Service on the Great Lakes. The next step is to evaluate the North Manitou Island structure within that context to determine national significance. This report also researched the construction of these structures, so that restoration drawings could be developed for the building.

Historic Structure Report: 1854 Volunteer Rescue Station, North Manitou Island

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