I'm a son of Elizabeth (Beth) and George Hite. and brother of Allan and Patricia (Pat) Lombard. Mother was born and raised in Calumet, a daughter of Captain Allan (C&H) and Martha Jane Cameron. As a child, my mother would spend summers at the Harbor, often in the C&H tent "campground" on the hill behind the store. The tradition of summers at Eagle Harbor continued with her own family. We camped everywhere, hardly a rental property around that didn't at one time serve as the Hite summer headquarters. 
After Captain Allan's death in 1945, grandmother Martha Jane made the Harbor her summer home. She was one of "the girls", a Harbor dynasty of remarkable women known for their autocratical way and love of life. If you have Harbor family ties, you know who they were. My mother moved to the Harbor after dad's death in 1970. She was an exurberant woman with many Harbor friends. (Here pictured steadying her nerve for a wild ride in one of my more unstable sailboats.) She died in 1995.
True to family form I continued the practice of vacation at Eagle Harbor with my own family -- wife Carol and daughters Sarah and Mary. 
Sarah, now in Milwaukee (Whitefish Bay) with children Matthew, Michael and Meghan, is busy with a real estate development/remodeling career and her family. (Sarah's husband David died in 2001.) Mary, the sailor of my brood, is a freelance special event mamager in the Southern California area, and lives in Poway (San Diego) with husband Bert Hill and their children Ethan, Elliot and Natilie. Carol lives in Minneapolis (Edina), our home for 35 years. All try to make at least one visit to the Harbor each summer.
The winter of 1995=1996 was my first "year around". And what a winter it was with s near record snowfall of 367 inches. I thought it was wonderful. Sure, I'd often made winter visits, but "staying put" through a big winter snowfall is a quite different experience. Old Eagle Harbor hands, most of whom now escape to places where you can always see the ground, told me that after twenty or so years I wouldn't think a Keweenaw winter was so great. I'll never know. I once thought that snow shoes were quaint relics of an earlier era, something to decorate a camp wall. I now know better. They and cross country skis are as essential Keweenaw winter equipment as water pipe heaters and Yooper scoopers.
So I spend the winters shoeing, skiing and scooping. (Here pictured on the Harbor ski trail with my late trail scout, Abby.) There is, nonetheless, still sufficient time to pursue some old and new interests. I read a lot. The sea novels of Patrick O'Brian and the American Continent histories of Morison, Parkman and Prescott are all special favorites. Peter Oikarinen is just one of several area authors whose well told stories, real or imagined, of Superior region people and events now grace my bookshelves.
I also do a lot of writing -- letters, journals, stories, essays and web pages. Most of it just for the sheer joy of writing. The authors I read inspire my writing, but their skill keeps me humble. If disciples of good English should chance upon this web site, I'm sure to hear from them. At least I'm having fun.
Computers are a relatively new and truly exciting dimension of my life, especially during our long, quiet Keweenaw winter. The Internet makes the people of the globe your neighbor. During the long winters my sailboat, Peregrine, is on its winter roost in Pequaming but, thanks to the Internet, I'm able to web-link sail every day with racing and cruising skippers around-the-world. The computer and its Internet capability are truly remarkable new technology.
Sailing is my favorite way of life, occupying most of the late spring, summer and early fall months. Peregrine, my Nonsuch 30, ( pictured here at Harbor dock with me and sailing partner Bruce Olson -- click to enlarge ) is on the Lake constantly, sailing more than 1500 miles each season (2400 one summer) and visiting far flung Superior harbors and anchorages.
So Who's George? A man of 70 some years, retired from careers in corporate and public enterprise, and living an active life on the shore of Lake Superior. An unabashed champion of Eagle Harbor. A man humbled by the works of generations past, one who marvels at the contributions of contemporaries, and is awed by the splendor of his natural environment. A man enriched by the fullness of life and blessed by family, friends and circumstance.
George Hite
(906) 289-4536
277 East North Street
Eagle Harbor, MI 49950
ghite@pasty.net