Craig Jacobson of Indianola, Iowa, and his son, Charlie, 10, look at one of the surf-boats on display at the Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station Museum during its open house Saturday. Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette

EAGLE HARBOR — Residents got to see the newly expanded Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station Museum and learn more about other boating resources in the area at the museum’s open house Saturday.

The Keweenaw County Historical Society hosted the open house, which by about 2:30 had drawn more than 200 people, said Mark Rowe, KCHS trustee and maritime chairman.

The society operates the museum inside the boathouse of the former Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station, which was operated by the U.S. Coast Guard and its forerunners from 1912 to 1950.

The DNR owns the station site, which is used as a marina and a public park. Since 2005, the KCHS has operated the former boathouse site as a museum honoring the life-saving work on Lake Superior.

Renovations this year more than doubled the museum’s visitor area.

“Stuff would be spread out on the floor, nobody could really see equipment around the corner,” Rowe said.

A grant from the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission provided half the cost for a wall expansion. Instead of Plexiglas panels, the museum followed a contractor’s recommendation and installed steel cables, allowing people a more direct view of the vintage motor boats and surfboats on display.

“We were able to expand this, and then expand all the display panels and add all these here so you had more interpretive information about all the equipment,” he said.

Equipment on display includes a recently restored 26-foot surfboat, which had been donated to the museum by Wheaton College. It is only the second of its kind known to exist. Restoration has taken place in installments over the years as the KCHS could afford it. Some further upgrades are still on tap, like adding fender bumpers and removing gravel from the slip outside the boathouse.

“The idea is that we want to row it and demonstrate it and even take it out on days like today,” said KCHS member Eugene Johnson.

Rich Probst, chairman of the DNR Eagle Harbor Marina committee, also updated the public on recent updates to the marina. It expanded the number of slips from six to 18, marking the first significant improvements since the 1970s. In addition to the six transient slips, it now has another 12 seasonal. Reservations can also be made through the state’s online system.

The state first held public hearings on the upgrades in 2018. After strong public support, the state approached Eagle Harbor Township to say it would spend the money on the upgrades if the township agreed to take over management of the marina.

“Fort Wilkins helped us get set up this spring but it’ll be our responsibility,” Probst said.

So far, about a dozen transient boaters have used the marina, Probst said. Previously, the harbor had six slips, about half of which were used by long-term boaters. But it would be full often enough that boaters wouldn’t rely on it.

“People weren’t really planning on stopping here,” he said. “It would be kind of a fluke if they came in here and it was open. Now that we’re online with the reservation system, it’s easier for people to see, and I can only see our traffic increasing.”

Maria Collett, the officer in charge at U.S. Coast Guard Station Portage, explained the station’s mission. Visitors also got to tour the Coast Guard’s new 45-foot response boat medium, which arrived at the start of the summer.

“It’s usually this boat that we take out,” said Machinery Technician 3rd Class James Kline. “We have the 29(-foot) back at the station, but it’s just more room in here, it’s easier to do what we need to do.”

The Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office was also on-site to show its patrol and lifesaving vessels.

“It’s been going really good, good turnout,” said Deputy Matthew Eberly.

The department has a Sea Runner patrol boat and Sea-Doo rescue craft. In addition to the Sea-Doo, which has a rescue board, the department plans to get a second rescue machine to haul medical gear and spare gas.

The patrol boat makes regular patrols about once a week. Boat crafts went out earlier this spring, when the department responded to a boater on Lake Superior who had a defective electronic locator that erroneously sent an emergency broadcast.

The department averages about five rescues a year, though that can vary. Three years, deputies had to make four rescues in one day — “mostly kayakers who overextend themselves,” Eberly said.

“At High Rock Bay, they look at Gull Rock Lighthouse and think it’s close. Then they get there and realize how far it is,” he said.

Craig Jacobson of Indianola, Iowa took in the sights with his son Charlie, 10. He and his family are frequent visitors to the museum, stopping by during the summer when visiting relatives.

“It gives kids a life experience they wouldn’t have,” he said.

Jacobson said his boys particularly enjoyed the tour of the Coast Guard vessel.

“They were up and down the whole thing, asking all the questions,” he said. “That’s something they really enjoy.”