The lighthouses of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are beacons of history

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Alfredo Sosa/Staff
SEASIDE SIGNAL: The Whitefish Point Light Station, built in 1849, is the oldest operating lighthouse in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
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Lighthouses are everywhere in Michigan’s sparsely populated Upper Peninsula.

After French explorers reached the Great Lakes region in the early 1600s, word traveled back to Europe about a “great northern sea” – the uppermost lake that soon earned the name Lake Superior. Europeans and early American Colonists began using it for fur trading and, later, to transport mined copper and iron. In the second half of the 19th century, lighthouses were erected along Lake Superior’s coast to help guide ships through the notoriously rough waters. 

Why We Wrote This

Many of the lighthouses that dot the coastline of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have been retired. They still attract tourists interested in Lake Superior’s storied past.

Today, technological advances have made Lake Superior’s lighthouses less critical. The Coast Guard has retired many of them; others are privately owned. 

But these beacons are popular tourist attractions.

Shipwrecks remain preserved in Superior’s cold waters – luring divers from far and wide to explore the lake’s floor. Visitors also climb many of the towers’ narrow spiral staircases to find a giant, dormant light. The lighthouses might be artifacts of history, but from their catwalks the same sight remains centuries later: a seemingly endless blue horizon. 

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Across Michigan’s wild and sparsely populated Upper Peninsula, gas stations and grocery stores are difficult to come by. Lighthouses, however, are everywhere.

The largest and deepest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior is also the world’s largest lake by surface area. After French explorers reached the Great Lakes region in the early 1600s, word traveled back to Europe about a “great northern sea” – the uppermost lake that soon earned the name Lake Superior. Europeans and early American Colonists began using it for fur trading and, later, to transport mined copper and iron.

In the second half of the 19th century, lighthouses were erected along Lake Superior’s coast to help guide ships through the notoriously rough waters. Still, wrecks were common in the lake’s southeastern region approaching Whitefish Point. 

Why We Wrote This

Many of the lighthouses that dot the coastline of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have been retired. They still attract tourists interested in Lake Superior’s storied past.

Amid intense fog and winter storms, many ships would try to hug the coastline, paying attention to each lighthouse’s specific flashing-light pattern. But as ships reached the eastern edge of the lake, where it narrowed into the Soo Locks dividing Lake Superior from Lake Huron, many collided with one another. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point chronicles historic sinkings, including that of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, the last and largest ship to go down in the lake.

Alfredo Sosa/Staff
TOWERING GIANT: The Au Sable Light Station stands on Au Sable Point, Michigan. Built in 1874, the lighthouse was continuously staffed until the Coast Guard left in 1958.

Today, technological advances have made Lake Superior’s lighthouses less critical. The Coast Guard has retired many of them; others are privately owned. “If you have to use a lighthouse’s light now, you’re in trouble,” says Hilary Billman, director of the Marquette Maritime Museum.

But these beacons, where lighthouse keepers and their families lived for decades to guide sailors, are popular tourist attractions.

Shipwrecks remain preserved in Superior’s cold waters – luring divers from far and wide to explore the lake’s floor. Visitors also climb many of the towers’ narrow spiral staircases to find a giant, dormant light. In Marquette’s tower, the howling wind rattles so violently that the structure sways. The Upper Peninsula’s lighthouses might be artifacts of history, but from their catwalks the same sight remains centuries later: a seemingly endless blue horizon. 

Alfredo Sosa/Staff
ROUND AND ROUND: A wrought-iron staircase leads up the tower at the Au Sable Light Station. After reaching the top, visitors duck through a trapdoor to enter the lighthouse dome.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
WELL-LIT PATH: Teens walk on the bridge connecting the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse with the building that once housed its fog signal.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
SUPERIOR VIEW: Lake Superior is seen from the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse in Marquette, Michigan. Coast Guard members and their families lived there until 1998, before the property was leased to the Marquette Maritime Museum.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
POINTS OF INTEREST: The Whitefish Point Light Station stands in the community of Paradise in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The site is home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which chronicles historic sinkings.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
LET THERE BE LIGHT: A Fresnel lens sits atop the tower of the Au Sable Light Station. The resulting beam could once be seen 17 miles out on Lake Superior.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
BEACON STREET: A park ranger gives a tour of the Au Sable Light Station, including the attached residence built for two lighthouse keepers and their families.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
SHINE ON: The Point Iroquois Lighthouse in Brimley, Michigan, was built in 1855 and operated for 107 years. The brick structure was added in 1870.

For more visual storytelling that captures communities, traditions, and cultures around the globe, visit The World in Pictures.

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