Boathouses on Lake Vermilion
Clusters of boathouses on Lake Vermilion, Mn., date back to the early 1900s and are a piece of Minnesota history that many want to preserve. To keep the boathouses afloat and the memories alive, a group of local residents is moving to make them a formal part of history.
Some are framed with tamarack or spruce poles, others with rough-sawn lumber. A few are covered with wood fasciae. Many have a ball finial -- an architecturally distinct steel ball -- at the roof's peak. Attached to each boathouse is a number ranging from 1 to 151, the original number of boathouses built along the shoreline.
If approved at the state level, the designation still would require final approval by federal officials. The decision is expected by mid-summer. It would be the state's first boathouse district to receive National Register of Historic Places recognition.
In 1884, the Minnesota Iron Co. built the first boathouse on Stuntz Bay to protect a company steamboat called the Decora Tower.
March 26, 2007 6:50 AM | Category: Boats