National Register of Historic Places

Revisions & Nomination Projects for North & South Manitou Islands

The National Register of Historic Places is the official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. Properties eligible for listing in the National Register contribute to an understanding of the historical and cultural foundations of the nation. The National Register includes:

• all prehistoric and historic properties within the National Park Service System,
• National Historic Landmarks, and
• other properties significant in national, state, or local prehistory and history.

Properties eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places generally must be fifty years old or older, and must meet the carefully defined criteria of significance and integrity. Properties are evaluated in relationship to major historic and prehistoric themes in a community, state, or the nation. A property may be significant if it relates to any one or more of the following four aspects of American history:

• association with historic events or activities,
• association with an important person in history,
• distinctive design or physical character, or
• potential to provide important information about prehistory or history.

A property must also maintain enough of the original qualities that make it significant. These qualities of integrity include: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

Any individual, organization, government office, consultant, or public entity may prepare and submit a National Register Nomination. Nomination forms and instruction booklets have been prepared by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service and are available through the State Historic Preservation Office. The National Register Coordinator and other staff at the State Historic Preservation Office are available to provide technical assistance. Completed forms are normally submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office for review and referral to the National Park Service. Since island assets are already in the NPS system, the Keeper of the National Register will accept applications submitted directly.

Authoring such nominations is well within the Memorial Society's purview. However, because of the detail required to support such nominations, the projects are rigorous. The benefits of achieving such listings, in our case, include these:

• listed buildings and landscapes become eligible for restoration and preservation grants, as well as technical assistance with rehabilitation and maintenance.
• while listing does not guarantee that the building or landscape will forever be protected and preserved, it does assure that a formal impact study be completed before any proposed changes can be carried out.
• finally, the honorary designation achieved through placement on the National Register often changes the way we perceive our historic resources, and gives credibility to efforts to preserve these resources as viable, functioning members of the islands' human built landscape. Additionally, the documentation required for Register listing, such as the nomination's Statement of Significance, provides the arguments needed to successfully preserve these historic places.

Projects and priorities currently invisioned include:

• revision of the existing listing for South Manitou's lighthouse-coast guard village district in include the residences in the village,
• a nomination for South Manitou's "farm loop" as a Rural Historic Landscape, which would include the Beck and Hutzler farms, the schoolhouse, etc.,
• for "the Lodge" on South Manitou as an Historic Building,
• for the North Manitou Shoal Lighthouse as a Historic Structure,
• for North Manitou's "Cottage Row" as a Historic District,
• for North Manitou's "Manitou Island Association" buildings as a Historic District,
• for North Manitou's Bourniques cottage as an Historic Building, and
• for North Manitou's "West Side Barn" in the Crescent "ghost town" as an Historic Structure

These projects will be done in close cooperation with Lakeshore personnel (Kimberly Mann and Bill Herd), with full access to the wealth of Lakeshore archival resources and documents. Funding to cover incidental expenses will be provided by the Memorial Society, with possible matching funds from the National Historic Preservation Fund as Federal Survey and Planning Grants.

If you would like to participate in this long-term project, please signify your interest using the "volunteer" link provided above.

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