The Fort Gratiot Light standing near the Mouth of the St. Clare River in Port Huron is the oldest lighthouse still standing in Michigan. It was first constructed in 1825 and the first lighthouse on Lake Huron. It was rebuilt in 1861 and still stands as an active aid to navigation today.
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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.
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The big red Lighthouse that proudly stands at the entrance to the harbor was built in 1865. It is now maintained by the Marquette Maritime Museum which also gives tours of the historic lighthouse. On different occasions, tour guides and visitors have seen a ghost of a little girl wearing a 1910s style dress. Sometimes she is seen staring out of the window over Lake Superior or on the catwalk around the Lantern. She seems to like showing her spirit to women and other children.
There was no reported death of a little girl at the lighthouse, however, there was a young daughter of a keeper who was badly injured when she fell on the rocks at the shoreline. Interestingly it happened shortly after the turn of the century. I don’t know if the lighthouse is haunted, but strangely a lot of lighthouse keepers have resigned there duties abruptly while serving at the big red lighthouse. Be sure to check it out next time you are in Marquette.
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I looked all around the internets and through the books that I have. I found little information on this unique looking lighthouse. It stands at the city beach in New Buffalo at the mouth of the Galien River. The town did have an official lighthouse built way back in the 1830s and it was demolished in the 1850s.
Strangely I could not find when the current light was built. I fould a reference that said it was a replica of the original light. I am not sure about that since the original was built with stone and not cinder blocks and vinyl siding.
The current light does not show up on the Coast Guard’s official list of aid to navigation. It also does not appear on Terry Pepper’s website or Lighthouse Friends website. It as if this cute little light on the beach was shunned and forgotten about.
Just to let you know, I am doing a CALENDAR GIVEAWAY on my facebook page HERE You can order calendars before the sale ends HERE
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If you are in the Upper Peninsula in the early fall you may get to witness one of natures 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 or 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.
Have you been able to see the butterfly migration? please post a comment, I missed it by a few days when I visited the old lighthouse. If you want to know more about the lighthouse you see my post about it HERE
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Every night during the shipping season the S.S. Badger sails into Ludington Harbor and the north breakwater light welcomes it home. When the Badger is gone it is as if the lighthouse stands in the harbor waiting like a mother for her child to come home from school.
The Badger is the last steam-powered passenger ship to sail on the great lakes. Built in 1952 it was named after the University of Wisconson’s mascot the Badgers. Its sister ship was named after the MSU Spartans, you can see my post about it HERE
Lost In Michigan wall calendars are now IN STOCK and ON SALE. I sold out of them by December last year so now is a good time to get one. you can order them from my website HERE
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Michigan has two Sand Point Lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula. One is in Escanaba HERE, and this red brick lighthouse is near Baraga. It was constructed in 1872 and sits on L’Anse Bay across from the town of L’Anse. In 1922 a light was placed on top of a metal skeletal structure and the old brick lighthouse was decommissioned. It was sold to private hands and is now in the ownership of the Keweenaw Bay Indians. When I visited it the grounds were open to the public and it is a nice place to stop if you are traveling between L’Anse and Houghton on US-41.
P.S. if you are wondering L’Anse is French for “the cove”
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The Silver Lake Sand Dunes are mostly known as a playground for ORVs and dune buggies. In the southern end of Silver Lake State Park stands the historic Little Sable Point Lighthouse. After the April 1871 beaching of the schooner Pride. To aid in navigation around the hazard, the United States Congress approved funding in 1872 for the erection of a lighthouse. The location’s inaccessibility by road delayed the completion of the lighthouse until 1874. A house was constructed to board the keeper, his assistant, and their families. The tower was painted white in 1899 to make it more visible to ships during the day and was restored to its original brick in the 1970s. The lamp was electrified and automated in 1954. After automation, a keeper was no longer needed and the house and ancillary buildings were razed.
P.S. The word Sable is used to name a lot of places in Michigan. In French it means sand. With all the sand along Lake Michigan, Little Sable Point is a logical name And Big Sable Point is in Ludington State Park.
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If you have ever driven through Marine City you have probably noticed the lighthouse that stands in a downtown park along the St. Marys 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 demolitions funds were raised my 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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For those of us who have lived in Michigan a long time we know not to rely too much on the weather forecast, especially if they say it is gonna be nice a sunny tomorrow. Inevitably tomorrow gets here and the weather is less than ideal. When I am up north and it’s cold and raining I like to go ” into town ” and on this particular day I took a trip to Charlevoix. The light at the end of the pier is probably not the most ascetically pleasing of lights on the Great Lakes, but I imagine to the sailors caught in a storm, seeing the beacon shining on a gloomy day was a welcomed sight. I take a lot of photos of lighthouses, and my favorites are pics on stormy days. I figure that is the purpose of a lighthouse, and it’s the friends that stick around on those not so perfect days that you can rely on.
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