By Phillip Schauer, Past President

June brought a large dose of air pollution to many areas of the state. The ever-burning Canadian forest fires had finally been swept south, giving rural and small town residents perhaps their first dose of fire-generated air pollution. Dare I say smog! As I was headed east to Kenosha I thought that perhaps the large openness of Lake Michigan would act as a clearinghouse and chase the bad air away. However, the farther east I drove the landscape became more shrouded. Sure enough, the smoke-laden air only intensified the closer I got to the lake.

I was traveling to the FRIENDS of the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s annual meeting. It offered visits to the Civil War Museum, the Kenosha Public Museum with its extensive displays of the city’s automotive and industrial heritage, and also the 1867 Light Station keeper’s house and museum, including the 1866 Southport Lighthouse with a chance to trek up inside the lighthouse to catch the view. At 55 feet tall (plus a hilltop location added up to 74), thick Milwaukee cream brick walls, and a semicircular cast iron stairway, it was too good to pass up for myself along with past president of FRIENDS and wife Gwen. We carefully plodded up the 72 steps and were rewarded with a magnificent vista—the city, harbor, and a great lake!

Although the horizon was partially obscured by the smoke that I naively thought would be cleared by lake breezes, all was enjoyable! Perhaps I will return in the future and be able to fully appreciate the publicized view—“3 counties, 2 states, 1 Great Lake, and an unobscured Chicago skyline” on the distant horizon!