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SOUTH HAVEN - High water eroding Lake Michigan's beachfront property is not an unusual occurrence for
Elizabeth Akehurst of South Haven. "Same old, same old," Elizabeth said.
She should know. Libby, as she's called by family and friends, grew up in a house along Monroe Boulevard.
The attractive brick house that remains in the family sits atop a bluff overlooking the Big Lake,
Over the years, Libby and her family have seen lake levels rise and fall, and they've seen the measures
homeowners have taken to protect their beaches and property.
“My father said we had an acre of land (overlooking the lake),” she recalled. Then the lake levels began to raise,
"My parents lost half an acre." The family garage also ended up falling over the edge of the bluff to the
shoreline below prior to the current home's
construction in 1957.
"This is nothing new," Libby said, referring to the high water in Lake Michigan in recent years.
But the rising water and the loss of property along the lakeshore is new for people who have built houses along
Monroe over the past decade.
One of those homeowners is Terry Caveney, who lives several doors from Libby Akehurst's family home,