Patty Loew:
Your federal tax dollars will be spent on another Wisconsin project here, $5 million will be used to continue restoring the historic Apostle Island lighthouses. They're described as the premier lighthouse collection in the country and include six light stations. "In Wisconsin" producer Jo Garrett shows you one lighthouse recently restored in the Apostle Islands.

Jo Garrett:
When last we saw the Raspberry Island lighthouse it was deep in the throes of restoration. Think of it as “This Old House”on steroids.

Man:
When we first arrived here the building was in quite a state of disrepair. It had been maintained to the best of everyone's ability but it is over 100 years old.

Jo Garrett:
Kim Kotney is the president of KBK services, a construction firm based in Ashland that won the national contract to renovate Raspberry. This lighthouse is made of wood and as any homeowner will tell you, weather can take its toll. And when the winds blow across this big lake, one of the largest in the world, well, it makes for lots of weather.

Kim Kotney:
That's Lake Superior at its best. We have our predominant winds and storms come from the west/northwest. This is on the west side.

Jo Garrett:
Those famed Superior storms. A year later that unpredictable weather almost foiled the plans for the grand reopening of the lighthouse held in Bayfield, but the clouds parted, the first boatload of visitors was ferried over and as the island came into view...

Woman:
It's gorgeous.

Jo Garrett:
As in years gone by, the keeper came to greet them. Jim Stowell, park service employee in authentic keeper garb harkening back to keepers past.

Jim Stowell:
Welcome.

Woman:
How was your life out here?

Jim Stowell:
Not bad. It's always a beautiful day on the Berry. You're living on Raspberry time.

Jo Garrett:
First a ribbon cutting. After a two-year absence the public was allowed back in to Raspberry. Bob Krummenacher, the park superintendent.

Bob Krummenacher:
We just spent two years and a million and a half dollars and brought the lighthouse back to where it should be.

Woman:
That is beautiful.

Bob Krummenacher:
The time and toll of Lake Superior and 100 years, the building was degrading. We restored the foundation, we rebuilt the roof, we fixed up every board that we could and replaced the ones we couldn't. We redid every window. We basically lovingly brought it back. Now it looks like 1924 with a little bit of 2007 technology.

Bob Krummenacher:
It's a snapshot. It's a snapshot in history. Our goal will be to stop time here in 1924.

Woman:
The family ate Sunday dinner as you see. They're ready to eat their cherry pie.

Bob Krummenacher:
You come back 50 years from now we'll probably still be telling the story of 1924.

Jo Garrett:
The choice of 1924 is a bit arbitrary.

Bob Krummenacher:
The historic period could have been from 1863 through 1940s. But we looked back through history to try to figure out where do we know the most about and all the keepers kept diaries but Lee Benton, the keeper in the early 1920s kept a vivid diary. We probably know more about his story, his family, his day-to-day life than we do any of the other keepers. This was the center of the lighthouse universe of the Apostle Islands and Benton and his family were very proud of the site and people came and played croquet just like they're doing right now.

Bob Krummenacher:
They tended the flowers.

Jo Garrett:
The role of the lighthouse keeper may seem quaint now but their work was crucial for the ships on Superior, crucial to Wisconsin's maritime industry. In a time without GPS and radar, the beacon from a lighthouse was shelter in the storm. Bob Krummenacher.

Bob Krummenacher:
The lake was the highway but it was also a very dangerous highway. There were great hazards out there. Keeping people alive is what they were about. The most important thing that they could do was keep that light shining because they were something that the mariners counted on. The worst possible thing would be if the light went out. People could die.

Jo Garrett:
It was shelter for the sailors and home sweet home for the keepers. Monies for this renovation covered only the lighthouse. In a remarkable achievement, all of the objects in the house that give it such life were donated or purchased through contributions. Joan Kohler is responsible for home sweet home and a domed trunk.

Joan Kohler:
That dome top trunk I got in St. Louis at a garage sale in 1968 and I refinished it. And I spent hours on that trunk, hours on it. I've had it in my home. Then when I heard that they were looking for contributions up here and they wanted specifically a dome top trunk and I thought wouldn't this be great? It would be useful here and it would always be here. It is great to think of the -- hopefully the permanence of this and these wonderful things. Great to be part of it.

Alice Hudson:
I donated the cookbook. A 1909 cookbook. I saw a notice in the paper that they were looking for things from the -- for the Raspberry Island lighthouse. My mother as a young girl used to come over here on vacation. She was a friend of Harold Benton's wife, they were neighbors, and she came out here for a week at a time in the late 20s and they just had good times. She had so many tales to tell about Raspberry Island and the lighthouse.

Jo Garrett:
Kathleen D’Angelo of Madison created this painting.

Kathleen D’Angelo:
This depicts a scene with one of the lighthouse keepers in the early 1890s, Francis -- woke up in the middle of the night. It was storming. He went down to get his boat in the boat house and got blown out into the main waters and ended up being stranded on Oak Island. Knowing that this would be here in the Apostle Islands and to be part of the park service I didn't hesitate one second.

Bob Krummenacher:
This is a critical part of American heritage and the Apostle Islands national lakeshore and Raspberry Island light station in particular are here because people cared enough to keep them here and these places don't just survive on their own, they require in this case legislation, they require committed people, they require a fair amount of public and private money and the dedication of hundreds of people.

Jo Garrett:
Hundreds have polished this jewel back to perfection and it is open again for our perusal.

Patty Loew:
The Raspberry Island lighthouse is now open for tours. There are 22 Apostle Islands with six light stations all built in the 19th century. The oldest lighthouse has been standing since 1856. For more information check our website at wpt.org/InWisconsin. The $5 million in new federal funds will cover less than half the cost to restore the other lighthouses. This week on "Here and Now" continuing coverage as we examine the new federal funds going to the Apostle Islands. That’s Friday at 7:30 on "Here and Now" on Wisconsin Public Television.