The range lights of the St Joseph pier lights illuminating the darkness. They were constructed in 1907 and by 2008 they were deemed excess by the Coast Guard and given to the city of St. Joseph. Nearly 2 million dollars was raised to restore the front and rear towers.
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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 Point Lighthouse stands along a remote and wooded section of the Lake Superior Shoreline. It is about 15 miles west of the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. Crisp Point Lighthouse was built in 1903 and decommissioned in 1993 and is now the property of Luce County and maintained by the Crisp Point Light Historical Society. The roads to the lighthouse are not plowed in the winter so the summer months are the best time to visit it. If you are looking to get away from the crowds at the Tahquamenon Falls take a trip out to this secluded location. It is also a great beach to go rock hunting while you are there.
If you love lighthouses I hope you will take a look at my new Lighthouse book HERE
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The South Haven Lighthouse shines a bright red light for sailors to find their way into the harbor at night. The steel tower at the end of the pier was constructed in 1902 and replaced a wooden one. It was originally painted white but changed to red. I assume to make it look different than the nearby St Joseph Lighthouse which has a similar construction.
Keeper James S. Donahue was a veteran of the Civil War. After being shot in battle one of his legs was amputated. He requested a job with the lighthouse service and to convince him to find employment elsewhere they gave him the job of keeper at South Haven. They figured he would grow tired of walking out to the end of the pier to maintain the light. He did the job for over 35 years and made it to the light every night regardless of the weather and Lake Michigan storms. If you love lighthouses I hope you will take a look at my new Lighthouse book HERE
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I always enjoy the drive along the Lake Superior shoreline from Brimley to Paradise. One of my favorite stops is the historic Point Iroquois Lighthouse. It was built in 1870 and is now a museum in the summer months. The grounds are open all year and it is a beautiful place to stop and take a walk on the boardwalk and watch the ships heading to and from the Soo Locks.
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The Gladstone Lighthouse welcomes boats into the Gladstone Harbor on Lake Michigan. Gladstone is on the south side of the Upper Peninsula near Escanaba. The lighthouse was built in 2010 when upgrades were made to Van Cleve Park. The park is a wonderful place to stop on a road trip along US-2 and while you are there you can check out one of Michigan’s newest lighthouses.
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Point Iroquois Lighthouse stands along Lake Superior between Whitefish Point and Brimley. The lighthouse was constructed in 1870 and deactivated in 1962. It now operates as a museum in the summer months. While most tourists visit Whitefish Point Lighthouse this historic beacon is worth visiting and it is a beautiful drive along the Lake Superior shoreline from Paradise to Brimley.
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If you are in the Upper Peninsula in the early fall you may get to witness one of nature’s wonders. The Monarch Butterfly migrates 1,900-miles south to their wintering grounds in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. Usually, around September thousands of Monarchs gather around the remains of the old Peninsula Lighthouse at the tip of the Stonington Peninsula.
It is one of only a very few places in North America where monarchs can be viewed migrating in great numbers while they wait for favorable weather conditions. Since tagging began in the mid-1990s, monarchs tagged at Peninsula Point have been found in El Rosario, Mexico, almost 2,000 miles from the Stonington Peninsula. Monarchs use a combination of air currents and thermals to travel long distances. Some fly as far as 3,000 miles to reach their winter home. If you want to know more about the lighthouse you see my post about it HERE
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At the time the Fourteen Foot Shoal Lighthouse was constructed in 1929 it was never intended to be occupied by a keeper. The lighthouse sits offshore from Cheboygan in Lake Huron. It marks a shallow spot that is, you guessed it, fourteen-foot deep. The light was to be remotely operated by radio from the nearby Poe Reef Lighthouse.
In 2012 the lighthouse was made available to government agencies or non-profit organizations for preservation. Because no group came forward to maintain the old beacon it was sold at auction in September of 2012 for $133,000. I am not sure what the owners of the lighthouse plan to do with it but many cormorants have taken up residency on the one remotely operated lighthouse. The large black fish-eating birds have built nests on several of the lighthouses in the straits and their feces are extremely destructive to the concrete and paint of the lighthouses.
If you want to see the 14 foot shoal lighthouse Nautical North Family Adventures sails past it on their shipwreck cruise. you can learn more about it on my post HERE
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The treacherous Lansing Shoals are located in Northern Lake Michigan at the western end of the Straits of Mackinac. Originally a lightship was stationed over the shoals to warn ships of the dangers that lurk below. In 1927 a concrete light station was constructed to replace the lightship. The circles along the base were originally portholes that were covered up along with the windows when it was automated in 1976. The portholes were for the living quarters and machinery in the “basement” of the lightstation. A few years after it was constructed in December of 1929 the spray from a winter storm froze over all of the doors exiting the lighthouse and the men were trapped inside for three days, although they had supplies to keep them nourished during their confinement.
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