Did you know that there used to be a picnic resort on Eagle Island, which was recently known as Bugni Island but originally was Shady Island?

Did you know where the first ski jump was built?

Lake Antoine Park Partners have spent part of this winter developing a project to answer questions like these about the area near the popular 748-acre lake.

“At our last few meetings, we discussed how park and campground visitors can read our history while enjoying the beach and picnic area,” LAPP member Doni-Mae Rauch said.

ANN HRUSKA, LEFT, Lake Antoine Park Partners treasurer, joins Nancy deKoster of the LAPP Board in gathering information for a planned multi-panel park history display. (Submitted photo)

Board volunteers last month began organizing resources for the facts about the Dickinson County community.

LAPP treasurer Ann Hruska developed a funding plan for the multi-panel display on the former concession stand at the beach. Her design includes seven informative panels, 3.5 by 6 feet wide, to cover the park side of the building.

Nancy deKoster, another member of the nine-person volunteer board, joined Hruska searching for photos and postcards from the past 80 years to supplement the written facts for the project.

“We would love to have people contact us about their old photos,” deKoster said. “Pictures of the ski jump, the mining and logging industries, recreation … the more pictures we can choose from to create our project, the better.”

“The view of the Pine Mountain ski jump will be in the landscape — your ‘eyescape’ — as you read its history on the building panel,” Hruska said. “We will also try to direct your attention to locations of the more local history, like the Ardis Furnace.”

“We would like to finish collecting photos and postcards to complete our research by April 30,” Rauch said. “Then we can get the display panels ordered in the hope we can install them on the freshly painted building by the end of June.”

To donate originals to be copied, citizens can contact board members via the LAPP website at www.lakeantoine.org, email them to lakeantoineparkpartners@gmail.com or use U.S. Post Office mail to Lake Antoine Park Partners, P.O. Box 609, Iron Mountain, MI 49801.