Enjoy a Game of Vintage Base Ball at Mackinac Island

The Fort Mackinac Never Sweats will battle the Rochester Grangers in a match (vintage term for a game) of vintage base ball (yes, base ball is not one word when you are talking about vintage base ball) tomorrow, July 22, at 7 p.m. The two club nines (that is vintage speak for teams) will play at the old Scout Ballfield behind Fort Mackinac. Tickets are $15 for families, $5 for adults, and $3 for youth (ages 6-17), children under 6 are free. Vintage base ball is played under rules from when the game was in its infancy. Rules from the mid 1800s are used as well as uniforms from that earlier period. Forget using gloves and don't worry if a sky ball (flyball) hits the ground because according to the vintage base ball rules it is okay to catch the onion (ball) on a bound (bounce) and still record a dead (out).

Here are some more vintage base ball terms matched up with current baseball terms -

• Cranks = Fans (how appropriate considering some fans behavior)
• Baller = Player
• Bowler = Pitcher
• Daisy Cutter = Sharp Grounder
• Striker = Hitter

If you can't make it to Mackinac island for the game, the Ludington Mariners will pit their nine against the Fallasburg Cubs from Lowell this Saturday at 1 p.m. The match will be played at Historic White Pine Village in Ludington. Admission to Historic White Pine village is $7 for adults, $5 for youth ages 6-17, and children under 6 are free.

P.S. The World Tournament of Historic Base Ball will be held August 4-6 at Greenfield Village. Check out the details here.

Civil War Reenactment at Walker Tavern

This weekend, July 15-16, the historic Walker Tavern near Brooklyn, MI will be home to over 300 Civil War reenactors. Soldiers from the 4th Texas Co. E (based out of Southeastern Michigan) will be performing drills, camping, participating in skirmishes, and reenacting a battle. As far as I can tell from the 4th Texas Co. E website it appears that they will be reenacting part of the "Seige of Petersburg." Here is a rundown of the events for this weekend's Civil War reenactment -

Saturday, July 15

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. - Sutler's Row shopping area open
• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. - Skirmish in the woods
• 2 p.m. - Battle reenactment
• 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. - Candlelight tour

Sunday, July 16

• 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. - Period Church service held at the barn
• 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Sutler's Row shopping area open
• 10 a.m. - Speed loading competition on the village green
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. - Reenactment of Federal assault

Admission is $3 for Adults and $1 for Children under 12. Walker Tavern is located at the junction of U.S. 12 and M-50.

For more information see michigan.gov and the 4th Texas Co. E website.

Interactive Traffic Map for Detroit

The Detroit Free Press has an interactive traffic map to help you negotiate all of the construction and detours. Check it out here and try to avoid wasting all of your expensive gas in traffic jams.

Spend a Weekend at DeTour Reef Lighthouse

For $170 ($150 for members of the DeTour Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society), you can become the keeper of the DeTour Reef Lighthouse for three days and two nights. From Friday to late Sunday you will be in charge of keeping the lighthouse clean and helping greet tour visitors. You need to be in good physical condition as multiple trips up and down the 20-foot pier ladder might be required. Sound like a lot of work? It is. Is it a unique experience? Definitely.

If you are a lighthouse lover, there are priceless sunsets and the opportunity to get a brief glimpse of what a lighthouse keeper faced at the DeTour Reef Lighthouse. Boat watchers are welcome, too. Over the course of the weekend you will see dozens of freighters passing by the lighthouse.

Susan Ager, Detroit Free Press Columnist, wrote an article of her personal account of staying a weekend at the DeTour Reef Lighthouse. It is an interesting read if you want to know more about lighthouses and the conditions that lighthouse keepers worked under. Also, if you are at all interested in becoming a keeper for a weekend it is a good primer in just how much work is required of you for those three days.

You can read her article here.

Keep tabs on all of Susan's summer travels at her blog.

I was intrigued by the isolation of the DeTour Reef Lighthouse and decided to see if I could find a satellite view of it at Google. Sure enough, I did. Check it out. After viewing this up close view, you should zoom out a little bit and see how the lighthouse appears to be bobbing and floating in Lake Huron.

Video Tour Inside of South Haven's Lighthouse

Other than one weekend out of the year during South Haven's Harborfest (which took place June 16-18) you don't get the chance to go inside the South Haven lighthouse. Well, not anymore. I am helping you out by providing a link to a short (just under 1.5 minutes long) video showing the inside of the lighthouse along with some history of the lighthouse provided by Rich Shadduck from Harborfest. My wife and I toured the lighthouse a few years ago during Harborfest. The interior was rather boring as there isn't anything in there but the stairway and the red light at the top. However, the view at the top was great! It was kind of hazy the day we were there, but you could still see quite a way in all directions.

Watch the video, courtesy of WWMT Channel 3, here.