Backyard Exploring

The nearest town to our rv park here on Minnesota's North Shore is Two Harbors.  We spent a pleasant afternoon poking around this quiet town, visiting three historic buildings--now museums, and exploring Agate Bay.

First stop was the birthplace of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.

A gentle but firm adhesive keeps butterfly id tags in place (back wall).

A couple of blocks away was our next stop, the Duluth and Iron Range Depot.  The museum is on the lower floor.  Most of it was dedicated to the history of Two Harbors and the three industries that shaped the community:  transportation, logging, and fishing.

We were mainly interested in the growth and impact of the railroad which connected the backcountry iron mines in the Vermilion Mountains to the lake front.

Outside we viewed the first locomotive on the Iron Range

and the Yellowstone Mallet #229, one of the largest locomotives ever built.

From inside the Depot we could see our third museum--the Two Harbors Light Station Museum grounds.  Several buildings housed exhibits about the industrial development of the harbor, the design and construction of the Light Station, a timeline of shipwrecks, and several antiques unique to the keepers quarters.

The Fontenac Pilot House was separated from its ship in a storm.  

but the pilot house floated to shore.

The assistant keeper's  quarters

 consisted of a small kitchen, study and living room downstairs, with bedrooms on the second floor. 

In the lighthouse building the Keeper's living quarters were converted into a bread and breakfast.  We were able to view the square light tower.

Inside we found three small rooms.  The first was used as a Refuelling room when the original light was actually fire.  The second was the Cleaning and Wicking Room.  The third was the Watch Room, and on top was the Lantern Gallery.

All of these rooms were accessed by these narrow stairways.

Lantern Gallery

While we were enjoying the view from the Watch Room, we spied a "Laker"--a huge lake ore ship--approaching the harbor.

We wrapped up our lighthouse tour and walked down the long break wall to watch it dock.  At the end of the break-wall a portion of the original lighthouse is still in use as a channel light.

We braved the chilly wind and joined several people waiting for the ship, the M/V Indiana Harbor to enter the harbor.  

It took about a half hour before the ship--a 1000' long, 105' wide diesel-powered Lake freighter, finally passed us, turned itself a quarter turn,

and eased alongside the dock.

To finish our harbor exploration,  accessed the lake shore at the end of the break-water and searched the rocks for anything that looked interesting.  I found some small pieces of quartz and some perfect skipping stones.

A short drive north on Scenic 61 wrapped up our day with a stop at Betty's Pies, a local cafe featuring home-made pies.  Sandwiches and chips served for our supper, and we each took home a large piece of pie.  Duane chose Turtle Coconut, a concoction of coconut cream, whipped cream, chocolate mouse, caramel sauce and pecans.  He quite enjoyed it for an evening snack.  I opted for Great Lake Crunch, a combination of  raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, apples, and rhubarb with an toasted oatmeal and brown sugar topping.  It's pretty good too, but better warmed up with whipped cream on top.

More stuff to see and do tomorrow.

Louise and Duane