11 Sep
This morning we headed out on a long but interesting drive to see lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
From Silver City we drove north then east to our first stop, L'Anse MI.
It was a beautiful drive. Very scenic with the trees starting to turn.
Our first stop was the
L'Anse Lighthouse, which is probably the newest operational and registered lighthouse we have ever visited, anywhere! It is located on top of Indian Country Sports, a sporting goods store in L'Anse and was built by the store owner in 1995. As the story goes, the store owner had a deep passion for lighthouses so he built it and then started the process of getting it registered with the Coast Guard. Apparently few in recent history have applied for a new lighthouse to be registered, so it took them a while to figure out how to do it! The lighthouse, located near the L'Anse marina, is inaccessible so we could just look at it from the outside. The store occupants were less that helpful with information...
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| L'Anse Village Marina sign accross the street from the lighthouse. Notice the hooks to hold fish for photographs. |
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| The L'Anse Lighthouse and sporting goods store |
Stop #2 was the
Sand Point Light, located in Baraga MI on the Keweenaw Bay in the Ojibwa campground. It is on the other side of the harbor from the L'Anse lighthouse. It was first lit in 1878 and replaced by a steel tower in 1922. It is presently an active aid to navigation in the bay.
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| Beautiful red brick structure. One of Doreen's favorites. |
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| The exterior wooden portions could use some TLC. Through the window, the interior looks like it has not been touched in a very long time. |
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| This lighthouse is private property but they allow visitors on the grounds to photograph it. |
Stop #3 was the
Keewenaw Waterway Light. This light is located out on a breakwater so it is not accessible. As we drove down a narrow back road and I had to ask for access and we were lucky enough to talk with a DNR officer. He said the property we needed to cross was for sale and unoccupied, so we could walk out the back yard to the water's edge and take a picture.
Stop #4, the
Copper Harbor Light was a long ways away at Copper Harbor MI, at the very tip of the peninsula. This was built in 1865 and now serves as the private residence of the State Park assistant ranger.
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| This is also a beautiful lighthouse. Too bad it is not accessible to visitors |
Stop #5 is the
Eagle Harbor Light, located at Eagle Harbor MI. It is one of the most accessible lighthouses in the north. It was built in 1851 and it is still a working lighthouse today. The Fresnel lens was replaced in 1980 with a red and white aviation-type beacon. The grounds includes a gift shop, museum and other out-buildings. It is open for visitors to climb, but we did not push our luck with Doreen's knee soreness. Another unique feature is the tower is brick on one side and white on the other.
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| The keeper's quarters showing the white side of the tower. |
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| The keeper's quarters showing the brick side of the tower. |
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| The gift shop |
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| The oil house |
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| The Commercial Fishing Museum located on the same grounds. Not verified, but this is likely as assistant keeper's house. |
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| Beautiful scenery looking out over Lake Superior |
Stop #6 is the
Eagle River Light. The need for this lighthouse grew from increased ship traffic due to the explosion of the copper mining in this area. It is at the mouth of the Eagle River and the tower was completed in 1855. It was sold in 1908 and was restored in 2014 and is now a vacation rental, so it is inaccessible to visitors.
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| The Eagle River |
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| The bridge we walked across to get to the lighthouse. You can see it in the background. |
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| On this side of the river, opposite the lighthouse, you can see the old main street with the old buildings |
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| This was a gift shop that sold ice cream, but they were closed for the season. Dang it! |
Our last stop, #7 is the Ontonagon Light. This was built in 1866, a simple 1-1/2 story rectangular cream brick building with a light tower at the north end. The cream brick is the same as was used in Kenosha. The very high basement was built to protect the living area from flooding as it was built on a river. It started out with a lantern in the lighthouse but because Ontonagon harbor was one of the busiest between Superior and the Soo Canal, they installed a Fresnel lens to help steer the ships into the harbor at night. This one also is on private property and we did not get there in time to take the shuttle for the visit.
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| Ontonagon Lighthouse from a distance. |
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| Zoomed in with the telephoto lens. Too bad it is not open to the public. |
We arrived back at the RV and took a short break before dinnertime. Carl and Tonya planned a barbecue on the beach with a bunch of friends and invited us to join. It was a nice evening with which helped keep the bugs away, but they were still biting. The only thing we had in the truck was sun screen so I gave it a try and it was better than nothing. Carl built a nice fire to cook with and grilled some burgers and brats.
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| Carl striking a pose on the beach with grilling weapon in hand!! |
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| The group |
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| The retired firefighter managing the coals |
We had a great time and it was an opportune time to give Carl one of my coins since I missed his military retirement at the Iowa Air Guard base in Des Moines.
As the sun set, we wrapped things up on the beach and headed back to the RV as we are leaving in the morning. We had an outstanding time with Carl and Tonya and are looking forward to when we can visit again and spend more time here.
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| Driftwood pile on the beach |
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| The sun setting over Lake Superior |
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