Efforts are underway to rehabilitate one of Leelanau County’s most unique and storied buildings.

The Save Woolsey Airport Terminal (SWAT) project is comprised of Leelanau Township government officials and private citizens. The goal is to fix and improve the airport’s stone “terminal,” which has long attracted gazes from passersby and served as a community gathering place for generations.

The group is assuming a cost of about $500,000 for all necessary repairs and upgrades, with about half of that cost already raised privately or allocated from government coffers.

“It’s just such a cool old building, and it would be really nice if it could be used a little more than it is…and be not just a ruin,” Leelanau Township Supervisor Barb Conley tells The Ticker. “It’s really important to the community, and not just the flying community.”

Among other usage, the deteriorating roof was once heavily used for dark-sky stargazing, and since 1988 the site has been home to the Northport Lion’s Club Fly-in/Drive-in Pancake Breakfast.

Phase One of the restoration project, completed last fall, was designed to take “appropriate steps to secure the structural integrity of the building and keep water from seeping inside,” according to a project sheet from SWAT. Roof and other concrete work achieved this goal.

Next steps, according to the project sheet, will enable better usage of the interior and exterior of the building. These upgrades, to be completed this year and next depending on funding, include:

-- Code-specific safety features on the observation deck including staircase

-- Repair and replace to match historic configuration of 15 window lintels and the fireplace lintels and install thermally improved steel framed windows

-- Repair and paint interior wall stucco, walls and ceilings, two exterior doors

-- Electrical system upgrade

-- Install airplane wind vane, masonry chimney cap, fireplace insert and flue, interior doors, and other finishes.

-- Install museum quality display materials (exterior/interior) for tour groups, visitors, etc.

“The restoration project will also enshrine the space as a community asset: to enable visitors to once again take advantage of the dark sky viewing from the observation deck, enable pilots to have a space to organize flight plans and review training materials, be a stop on historic county tours, and host events at the airpiort and use the terminal as a staging area,” the project sheet reads.

The Woolsey Airport “terminal” dates to the 1870s and was originally a creamery on the Northport farm of Byron Woolsey. The airport, one of a few remaining grass-strip airports in the region, opened in 1935 and was named after Byron’s son, Captain Clinton F. Woolsey.

Clinton died in a plane crash in 1927, and Byron later donated 80 acres of his farm for a memorial airport. Leelanau Township kicked in another 120 acres, and the Works Progress Administration, part of the famed New Deal, built the airport in the depths of the Great Depression.

Leelanau Township hired an engineering firm to oversee the project and is administering funds. Contact information, ways to donate and more project information can be found on SWAT’s Facebook page and this page.

Dune Bird Winery will also launch a new red wine (Woolsey Red) in partnership with SWAT to raise money for the project. A celebration of the project and new wine will be held from 4-8pm at Dune Bird on Thursday, June 4.