“Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings, In the ruins of her ice water mansion ...” — Gordon Lightfoot

The view is truly breathtaking. An endless blue vista of sparkling clean cold water accented by white caps, rhythmically crashing into castle-like fortresses of rock.

The unique and captivating venue is the southern shore of Lake Superior as it hugs the terrain that we know today as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

And it belongs to you. And me. To everyone.

Thank goodness for the visionaries who saw the value in saving this slice of heaven for all of us to savor.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a national park on the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s vast Upper Peninsula. The lakeshore extends for 42 miles along the shore and covers more than 73,000 acres.

Pictured Rocks gets its name from the nearly 15 miles of colorful sandstone cliffs, some reaching up to 200 feet above lake level. Water, wind and time have etched the cliffs into an assortment of caves, archways and even human-like profiles. Waterfalls and sand dunes add to the area’s beauty.

Pictured Rocks also has the distinction of being the very first national lakeshore in the country.

In October 1966, Congress approved a bill establishing the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in order “to preserve for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public,” a significant portion of the diminishing shoreline of the United States and its related geographic and scientific features.

Is there anything more valuable than land? Sod? Turf? Real estate? Terra firma?

There’s only so much of it on this blue-green globe we call home.

Not everyone can afford to build their own ocean-front condo or two-story luxury cabin in the mountains.

But the rest of us enjoy the chance to dip our toes in sudsy surf, or occasionally hike one of the Beginner’s Trails among the Great Smoky Mountains.

Three cheers for the land preservationists of today, and three even heartier cheers for the men and women of our past who were smart enough to set some special acreage aside for all of us to enjoy — like Pictured Rocks.

And it’s happening here in North Carolina too, from the government working to set aside priceless slivers of nature to individuals working in concert to rope off other special addresses for the benefit of all.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina recently announced an agreement that will protect nearly 1,500 acres in the mountains from development, including part of a trail used in the Revolutionary War.

The agreement by the state involves land owned by CSX Corp. in McDowell County. The pact will protect the land from development and logging.

The tract includes land along a four-mile stretch on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It also includes 1.5 miles of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. That route was used by mountain militiamen on their way to the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina in 1780.

The icing on the cake is that the agreement includes provisions for improvements so the public can hike part of the trail — not just admire it from afar.

And last week came word — down from the mountains — that Grandfather Mountain, a mainstay of western North Carolina tourism, is making the transition from attraction to being part of a foundation.

Grandfather Mountain Inc. announced that the unique locale — famous for Mildred the Bear and the Mile High Swinging Bridge — is now an arm of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.

The foundation is a nonprofit corporation established to preserve Grandfather Mountain, operate the nature park in the public interest, and participate in educational research activities.

All proceeds from the sale of attraction tickets and souvenirs will be reinvested in the mission of the foundation.

And what a fine mission it is.

That is all.

— John Charles Robins can be reached at 272-6122 or jcr800@gmail.com.