Rocky Island Historic District
a.k.a. Rice's Island, Ironwood Island, Sinsibakwado Miniss; See Also: Hadland Fishing Camp
Rocky Island, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, La Pointe, WIThe Rocky Island historic district is significant under National Register Criterion as a maritime landscape reflecting the commercial fishing culture along the shores of Lake Superior, and the mid-twentieth-century regional shift to an economy heavily reliant on tourism and recreation.
The structures and landscape features of the historic district reflect an economic and cultural system that once was a dominant factor, not only in the Apostle Islands archipelago but in much of the Lake Superior region: small-scale commercial fishing operations practiced by Northern European immigrants and their extended families. The majority of the Rocky Island fishermen were Scandinavian immigrants, primarily from Norway, and the district retains many characteristics of this ethnic heritage.
As the lake's fish population declined, many fishermen retired or shifted their efforts to the tourism industry. Former Rocky Island fishermen and their families became involved in operating a resort and restaurant, and as guides for sports fishermen. Cabins that once served as bases for commercial fishing operations transitioned to summer homes for the children and grandchildren of the fishermen who erected them. Frozen in time by the acquisition of the island by the National Park Service, the landscape and structures of the Rocky Island historic district reflect this mid-twentieth-century process.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.