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Category Archives: Lighthouses

McGulpin Point Light, A Spectacular View of the Bridge

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

mcgulpin point lighthouse

The McGulpin Point Light, a true lighthouse with a light tower and attached lighthouse keeper’s living quarters, was completed by the United States Lighthouse Board in 1869 at a cost of $20,000. The living quarters were built as a vernacular 11⁄2-story brick structure. The lighthouse operated during the Great Lakes navigation seasons from 1869 until 1906.

The design was so successful that the Lighthouse Board chose to use this 1868 design in the construction of Eagle Harbor Light in 1871; White River Light in 1875; and Sand Island Light in 1881. It is a “mirror image of the design” used at Chambers Island Light and Eagle Bluff light. The design is sometimes called “Norman Gothic” style

James Davenport was the only lighthouse keeper at this light, and served for 27 years. Correspondence files in the National Archives in Washington show that Davenport made weekly trips through the snow to the lighthouse to report on its condition to the District Inspector in Milwaukee. Perhaps more importantly, these letters also show that he may have played a critical role in the opening of navigation every spring by reporting weekly, and sometimes even more frequently, on ice conditions in the Straits. Because Davenport was the only Straits keeper to submit such frequent reports, it would appear that the Inspector used these reports to gain an understanding as to when navigation would be open throughout the lakes.

In 1906, the McGulpin Point Light was deactivated and privatized due to the Lighthouse Board’s judgment that the nearby Old Mackinac Point Light was performing an adequate job of marking the Straits of Mackinac.[9] At some point after deactivation, the lighthouse tower’s lantern room was removed, and the building passed into private ownership. The building then entered service as a private residence

In 2005 the Lighthouse was put up for sale and Emmet County purchased it, now the light is open for tours. It’s a couple of miles west of Mackinaw City,  I have been to the top of the tower, and I will say, it has a spectacular view of the straights and the bridge.

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Michigan’s Abandoned Waugoshance Lighthouse

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

The Wagoshance Lighthouse (or as the old sailors called it, Wobbleshanks) sits out in Lake Michigan not far from Mackinac City off the coast of Wilderness State Park. It is at a remote place out away from sight by most tourists and has been forgotten and left to crumble into Lake Michigan. It was the first lighthouse in the Great Lakes completely surrounded by water when it was built in 1851.  It’s unique looking “birdhouse style lantern room illuminated the dark for decades guiding ships into the Straits of Mackinac. As ships got larger, the shipping lanes changed and the old iron-clad lighthouse was no longer needed and was decommissioned in 1912. Being left to the elements was bad enough, but the Army Air Corps used it as a target to test drones and bombed the outcast Lighthouse. What the elements did not destroy, the fire from the bombs did. It is just a shell of rusted metal and crumbling stone and bricks. If this old light was sitting in front of Mackinac Island, or in view from the bridge, people would be wondering about it, but I guess the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is true.

The lighthouse is listed as one of the most endangered lighthouses by Lighthouse Digest and with the non-profit organization that was trying to raise funds to save it being recently disbanded, the old lighthouse is left to unceremoniously collapse into Lake Michigan.

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Belle Isle’s Marble Lighthouse

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

livingston light detroit michigan

There are several lighthouses in Michigan, about 150 of them if you really wanna know, and the Livingston memorial light is one of the most unique, not only in Michigan but in the United States. It’s one of only 3 lights erected as a memorial in Michigan and the only navigational light constructed of marble in the country.

William Livingston was a prominent businessman in Detroit and served as president of the Lake Carriers Association. He was instrumental in having the government expanding the Soo locks and deepening and widening the channel in the St Mary’s river. He also worked on the project building a waterway for downbound ships in the lower Detroit River, which opened in 1908, and named the Livingstone Channel in his honor. During the early 1900’s, more ships and more tonnage passed by Detroit than through either the Suez or Panama canals.

After his death in 1925, as a tribute to Livingston, the city of Detroit donated the property on Belle Isle and funds were raised by the Lakes Carriers Association to build the $100,000 tower designed by famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn. The flouted art deco tower is made of white georgian marble, and has a light that can be seen for 16 miles on Lake St Clair.

belle isle lighthouse

Belle Isle Lighthouse built in 1881. Photo from the Coast Guard archives

The was another lighthouse on the island before the memorial light was built. The Belle Isle lighthouse was constructed in 1881 in the location where the coast guard station is now. Keeper Louis Fetes lived at the lighthouse for nearly 40 years and he and his wife raised their six children on the island, in 1930 the light was automated and by the 40’s the old forgotten lighthouse began to decay and the coast guard demolished it. I found a photo of the old lighthouse on the coast guards website and it was a beautiful victorian looking lighthouse, it’s sad the house is no longer standing, I think it would be one of the most beautiful lighthouses in Michigan.

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Seeking Refuge in Harbor Beach

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, Thumb .

Ships sailing along Lake Huron between Port Huron and the tip of the Thumb in the early 1800s had few places to seek refuge from the gales of November. Or any storm that whips up for that matter. A small harbor helped in Harbor Beach, but It was decided in the mid-1800s to build a break wall to create a safe haven for ships from the fury of Mother Nature. In 1885 a lighthouse was built replacing a light on a wooden frame. It guides ships to the opening in the break wall welcoming them to safety. It about a mile of shore but you can get a good view of it from a pier at the end of Trescott Street in Harbor Beach. I took this pic with a long telephoto lens. On Saturdays, in the summer you can take a boat to the lighthouse for a guided tour. here is their website for more info https://harborbeachlighthouse.org/

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A Christmas Light

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

This iron conical tower light stands in the trees along M-28 not far from the town of Christmas. It replaced the wooden lighthouse that was moved to Munising in 1914. I have driven the stretch on M-28 along the Lake Superior shoreline a few times. I knew this tower was located somewhere east of Christmas but I missed it because you can’t see it from the road hidden in the trees. There is an overgrown two-track that leads to it but you have to know where to find it. It is not an overly impressive lighthouse but it is one of the tallest iron tower navigational lights on the Great Lakes.

It has been decommissioned for a while and I am not sure who owns it, But it would be a nice location for a park. Being so close to the town of Christmas I think it should be painted Red White and Green and decorated in a Christmas theme. It would make for a nice place to stop along Lake Superior but unless you know about it many people just zoom on by without stopping.

P.S. I am not sure if the tower has a working light anymore but I ” turned it on ” in photoshop since I don’t like seeing a lighthouse without a hopeful beacon shining.

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Crisp’s Point Lighthouse

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

Crisp Point Lighthouse stands along the Lake Superior shoreline in Whitefish Point. It is a rather arduous journey to the lighthouse down eleven miles of winding narrow seasonal forest roads. Although it is a long way from the main road it is worth the trip to this secluded beacon. Crisp Point is named for Life Saving Station keeper, and iron-willed boatman, Christopher Crisp. The remote area does not have a landmark, city, or distinctive feature to name the lighthouse and light saving station after. Christopher Crisp must have been known by many and being stationed there most just referred to it as Crisp’s Point and the name stuck. The lighthouse was built in 1904 and by 1941 a signal buoy with a light on it eliminated the need for the lighthouse. The erosion from the waves on Lake Superior destroyed most of the lighthouse. Only the tower was left standing. It has been restored and the shoreline protected with large rocks and boulders.

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Sturgeon Point lighthouse and the Legend of the Native American Spirit

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Lighthouses .


The cape cod style Sturgeon Point lighthouse was built in 1869 after it was determined there needed to be a lighthouse between Tawas and Alpena’s Thunder Bay. The brick tower stands 70 feet tall and has a 3.5 order Fresnel lens that was originally installed at Oswego New York. Sturgeon Point is one of a few lighthouses left on the great lakes still using a Fresnel Lens.

Legend has it if you press your ear to the lighthouse’s tower, you may hear the echoes of a Native American man that fell inside the tower. The story goes that he was ascending the tower when he caught his foot on the cast iron circular staircase, hanging himself upside down. When he died, his soul entered the staircase’s suspension pole. Sometimes visitors can still hear his cries for help.

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Huron Lightship

Posted on September 26, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

The Huron Lightship was commissioned in 1921 and retired in 1970 after years of faithful service on Lake Huron illuminating the way for ships at the mouth of the St Clair River. She is permanently moored in Port Huron and serves as a museum.

P.S. If you are wondering, I had to turn on the light in Photoshop.

P.P.S I have a full story about the lightship in Lost In Michigan Volume 2 available by clicking HERE

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The Light Keepers House

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

This brick house with white siding faces the channel into the West Bay harbor at Grand Marais. It was built in 1906 for the lightkeeper that maintains the light for the channel. It replaced a shack made out of scrap lumber that was described as “a miserable shanty” by the lighthouse inspector.  The Coast Guard took over the house in World War II and used it until 1982.  two years later the Grand Marais Historical Society converted the home into a museum which it currently operates to the present day.

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The Retired Lighthouse

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

If you have ever driven through Marine City you have probably noticed the lighthouse that stands in a downtown park along the St. Clair River. It seems a little out of place and that is because it was moved to its current location after the old tower was no longer needed. The tower was built on Peche Island, A Canadian island at the mouth of the Detroit River near Belle Isle. Constructed in 1908 it stood for years guiding ships in the river. It was decommissioned in 1983 and after learning of its demolition funds were raised by Marine City to move the tower to the city’s Waterworks Park. It proudly stands, not guiding ships, but looking over the city that gave it a new home after it was retired.


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