Area Lighthouses

To those who first saw them, only the salt was missing. The Great Lakes were oceans as vast and worthy of respect as any of the open seas. The ships that sailed them faced hazards that required a system of lighthouses that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to Chicago and Duluth. More than 100 guarded the four coasts of Michigan.

Things have changed much and very little. The Great Lakes are still called inland seas, freighters from throughout the world still call at their ports, and most of the lighthouses built to guide ships through passages and past reefs still do. In most cases, the massive lenses that once magnified light from oil lamps tended by humans now focus electric light governed by distant computers.

Actually, an old lighthouse is the perfect structure to house a maritime museum. Michigan has a nautical history rich enough to fill more than the lighthouses converted to that purpose already. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point relates the stories of dozens of Great Lakes ships with one common bond. They all ended their commissions underwater. The centerpiece exhibit relates the loss of the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald (and all 29 crew members), perhaps the best known wreck in the Great Lakes, which lies in Lake Superior waters not far from Whitefish Point.

There are many lighthouse to visit all within a hour and a half drive from the local Curtis area.  Some include: