Michigan Lighthouses -- School-Age

Michigan Lighthouses

Michigan, a Midwestern state far from the ocean, has more lighthouses than any other state.

Michigan is two peninsulas surrounded by four of the Great Lakes, with over 3,000 miles of shoreline. These lakes are the largest freshwater bodies on Earth. Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas have over 100 lighthouses. In comparison, Maine has about 70, California about 45, Alaska about 15, and Florida about 40 lighthouses.

Navigate

To safely navigate the Great Lakes, sailors need to know their exact location and destination. While stars, especially Polaris in the Little Bear constellation, have guided sailors for centuries, they can’t warn about sandbanks or help with narrow, rocky channels.

Lighthouses and Navigation

Lighthouses help ships find their way, especially at night or in fog. Each lighthouse has a unique light pattern, like a special “blink blink.” This pattern helps the ship’s captain know where they are.

When a captain sees a lighthouse’s light, they can look at a map or a guidebook to match the light pattern with the lighthouse. This tells them where the ship is and helps them avoid danger.

Lighthouse Characteristics

Lighthouse Light Patterns

Lighthouses use different light patterns to show where they are. These patterns are called characteristics.

Some lights flash quickly, some slowly.
Some lights change colors, like from white to red or green.

Some lights flash in groups, like two or three flashes, then a pause.
An occulting pattern is when the light stays on longer than the dark pause.

By knowing these patterns, sailors can tell which lighthouse they see and where they are at night.

Lighthouse Daymarks

During the day, you can identify lighthouses by their daymrks. These are patterns or colors on the lighthouse that help it stand out.

Many lighthouses are white to stand out against trees.
Some have red or black stripes.
Some have stripes at the top.

Others are painted different colors around their windows.
Some lighthouses have an attached keeper house.

By knowing these day marks, sailors can tell where they are on the Great Lakes.

Lighthouse Towers

In Michigan, lighthouses are built in different places like offshore, on rocky areas, or on sandy shores along the Great Lakes. They come in various shapes and styles:

Round
Conical (cone-shaped)
Square
Schoolhouse (like a small building)
Skeletal (framework structure)
Pyramid

These different designs help them stand out and serve their purpose.

Manistee Pierhead Lighthouse stands watch over Lake Michigan.

Round and Conical

Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Height: 112 feet, one of the tallest on Lake Michigan.
Structure: Made of brick, later covered in steel for protection.
Stairs: 130-step winding stairway.
Connection: Covered passage to the keeper’s house.
Day Mark: Wide black band.
Location: Ludington, guiding ships through the channel to the harbor, Pere Marquette River, and Lake Michigan

Big Sable Lighthouse

Conical lighthouses are similar to round lighthouse but they differ in that they have a wide base and become narrow as they reach the lantern room.

Oldest lighthouse in Michigan, named after a nearby military outpost.
Built in 1825 at the meeting point of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River.
Original tower fell in 1828 due to poor construction.
New lighthouse built in 1829, originally 65 feet tall, now 86 feet.
Structure: Red brick painted white, with a red keeper’s cottage and fog whistle house.
Coast Guard moved out in 2008 due to deterioration.
St. Clair County Parks and Recreation took over in 2010.

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse

Square and Schoolhouse

Round Island Lighthouse

Square lighthouses have the tower built into the house Some housed two families, while others, like Round Island and Copper Harbor, were for single families.

Round Island Lighthouse

Built: 1895
Purpose: To help ships navigate dangerous shoals between Mackinac Island and Round Island.
Famous: Appeared in the 1980s movie Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse over looking Lake Superior.

Schoolhouse Lighthouses

Schoolhouse lighthouses look like old schoolhouses. They are made of timber or brick, with the tower built into the roof.

Copper Harbor
Harbor Point
Old Mission Point
Grand Island East Channel
Grand Island North

This style is common and cost-effective, often seen around the Great Lakes.

Skeletal

Skeletal lighthouses are the simplest type. They have a steel frame to hold the light. A key feature is the wide tube in the middle that has the stairs. All have enclosed lantern rooms, and most have enclosed watch rooms below the lantern. Examples in Michigan are Whitefish Point and South Fox Island.

North Manitou Shoal Lighthouse

The first onshore skeletal lighthouses in the U.S. were built in Michigan in 1861. These were at DeTour Point on Lake Huron, Whitefish Point on Lake Superior, and Manitou Island. These towers are square with an octagonal lantern room and are about 75 feet tall.

Frankfort North Breakwater Lighthouse on Lake Michigan

Pyramid lighthouses are made of wood or steel and shaped like a pyramid.

The first timber-framed pyramid lighthouse was built at the mouth of the Betsie River in Frankfort, Michigan, in 1873. It was replaced in 1912 with a square pyramid tower covered in steel. Later, the Army Corps of Engineers built two long breakwaters to protect the harbor and replace the old piers. The square pyramid was moved on a barge to a new north breakwater and placed on top of a new two-story steel base, about 25 feet high. You can still see the outline of the two doors from the original lighthouse.

Styles of Lighthouses

There are many architectural styles of lighthouses in Michigan from a castle to Victorian.

The Grand Traverse Lighthouse is a two-story brick building with a square light tower on the roof. It marks the entrance to Grand Traverse Bay from Lake Michigan. Built in 1858, the lantern room is 47 feet above the ground, and the light can be seen from 10 miles away. It was restored by the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Federation and is now a museum

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

The White River Lighthouse is at the entrance of White Lake. It was built in 1875 to help ships avoid rocks after a new waterway was made from Lake Michigan to White Lake. The lighthouse is made of Michigan limestone and brick with white trim, in a style called Norman Gothic. Today, it is a museum.

White River Lighthouse

The Holland Harbor Lighthouse, also known as Big Red, is at the entrance of a channel that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa, leading to Holland, Michigan. The lighthouse has a twin-gabled keeper’s house, which reflects the Dutch heritage of the area.

Holland Harbor Lighthouse

The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse is a buff-colored lighthouse attached to a keeper’s house that looks like a castle. It was built in 1892 to light the Straits of Mackinac, which are dangerous because of many shoals and islands. After the Mackinac Bridge was built, the lights on the bridge made the lighthouse unnecessary. Now, the property is owned by the Mackinac Island State Park.

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

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Visit Lighthouse Friends for history and information on lighthouses in the U.S.A.

Michigan Lighthouses Video

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Fresnel Lens

In the early 1820s, French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel invented a new kind of lens for lighthouses. The new optical lens was named a Fresnel Lens after its inventor. The name is pronounced fray-NEL or fruh-NEL, the 's' is silent.

How has the Fresnel lens “saved a million ships”?

Fresnel lens facts for kids