Painting Windows for the Plum Island Lifesaving Station

Volunteers paint windows for the Plum Island Lifesaving Station restoration project. Photo by Tim Sweet.

Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands (FOPPI) volunteers and personnel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) joined forces July 24 at the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge to paint 42 windows from the Plum Island Lifesaving Station.

In 2020, the USFWS contracted with the National Park Service (NPS) and its Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Maryland, where carpenters fabricated and primed 26 windows to replace those that were deemed beyond restoration. Earlier this year, the NPS restored an additional 16 windows that required wood repair, lead and asbestos abatement, and reglazing.  

After receiving three coats of finish paint, the windows will be ready to be reinstalled into the historical station building on Plum Island in the Death’s Door Passage between Northport and Washington Island. FOPPI has hired a contractor who will begin installing some of the windows later this summer, with plans to install the remainder next year as more funds become available.

Visit plumandpilot.org and fws.gov/refuge/green_bay to get more information.