While in Culver, check out our lighthouse! There is quite a story behind this structure, but suffice it to say that it was used, as far back as at least 1895, to signal Lake Maxinkuckee’s steamboats that a train had arrived at the station bringing hundreds of visitors to the lake for recreation in those days when people traveled here by the thousands to swim, picnic, visit friends around the lake, or visit the Academy. Roads were terrible, and train and boat travel was the norm.

The lighthouse, slowly falling into disrepair over the years, finally went down after it sustained damage in the “Big Wind” of the summer of 1913. Thanks to a photo from the CMA catalog of 1895 (provided by Academies’ archivist Bob Hartman), we now know that the original lighthouse was built well before the 1900 date we had originally believed.

 At any rate, those who have been around Culver this past winter will be familiar with the whole story: the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver donated a re-creation of the lighthouse to the town park in October, 2005. This was destroyed by vandals in January of 2006, which shocked the town and got a lot of local folks involved in helping re-create the re-creation! What was eventually erected in the town park, just a matter of weeks ago, was a much sturdier, finely crafted reproduction of the 1895 structure, complete with specially-made copper dome. The existing lighthouse, as photos reveal, is much larger than the original, but it’s a nice tribute to the rich history of the lake, the town, and the Academy. Stop by Culver’s town park (the public beach area) on Lake Shore Drive and take a look!

More photos — and history — of the original lighthouse here.

Also, Civil War and local (Culver-Lake Max area) history buffs may be interested in this. Ray Boomhower, author of The Pen and the Sword, a biography of Civil War General and Ben Hur author Lew Wallace, will be speaking at 10am on Saturday, July 22, at the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver’s July gathering at the Wurster cottage on East Shore Lane. Boomhower will also appear at the library downtown for a book signing at 1pm. Lew Wallace is said to have written the first few chapters of his blockbuster novel (most famous for the 1950s, award-winning film version with Charlton Heston) at the Allegheny house just east of Culver Academy. More on that here.  Wallace was an amazing guy…besides his Civil War and writing career, he was head of the trial of the assasination of President Lincoln, and was — among other things — a U.S. ambassador.

All are invited and both events are free, so come check it out!

A recent addition to the library’s history website:

The Culver Calendar from the 1940s ((probably the late 40s) includes a photo for each week of the year. Some — though not all — of these photos were taken by Col. Edward Payson. More of his Culver Calendar photos can be seen here.

With yesterday’s softball and basketball games, week two of athletic competition officially began on the boys side at Culver Summer Camps. Time to look back at the first week of camp for super 2.

Tuesday June 27: Last second Heroics lift two over band

Last Tuesday night Company Two’s basketball team took the court for the first time against the Naval Band in one of the more memorable CSS basketball games I’ve ever seen. The Band squad, coached by Mr. Dees and friends, ran a crack zone defense and showed some fairly ill ball-handling skills. They went up early but Company Two, led by Second Classman S. Meeker’s perimiter shooting and some timely free throws held it nearly even at the half.

The second half saw the lead change hands a few times which really worked the cheering sections of both the naval band and company two into a frenzy. Band had their drum line pounding away from the sidelines while Company Two busted out the old Atlanta Braves-style Tomahawk cheer to preserve their voices.

Naval Two’s coach, Mr. Monahan called a timeout with 20 seconds left on the clock and his team down by two points. Things looked more than a little grim as Company Two started up the Tomahawk Chop. On the next play however naval 2 inbounded the ball to Meeker, who managed to evade some tricky defenders, find a spot just outside the 3-point line, and drain a so-ugly-it-was-beautiful shot to put super 2 ahead by one as the game clock ran down. Phew. Company 2 rushed the court and shook hands with the Orange Crush. It was a nice way to start off the summer (though I wouldn’t have minded a slightly less stressful outcome). …Read the rest of this entry…