Page 19 - Senior Times South Central Michigan - June 2016 - 23-06

Senior Times - June 2016 Page 19
to help guide ship traffic from and to Lake Huron and Lake Superior via the strategic St. Mary’s River. In 2010 the DRLPS was the first volunteer group in Michigan to be designated a Preserve America Steward by First Lady Michelle Obama.
PO Box 307
Drummond Island, MI 49726 Reservations: (906) 493-6609 Phone: (906) 493-6303 DRLPS@DRLPS.com
Eagle Harbor Lighthouse and Museum
is located 32 miles northeast of Houghton
and was built in 1851 as an octagonal brick tower with an attached dwelling. A fog signal building was added in 1895. It is still an active light and the keeper’s dwelling is operated
as a public museum. The Keweenaw County Historical Society operates a fascinating nautical and historical museum in the lighthouse and surrounding buildings.
M 26 Lighthouse Drive
Eagle Harbor, MI 49950
(906) 337-1263
Fort Gratiot Lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in the Great Lakes. Established in 1825 and rebuilt in 1829 and 1861, it was the first lighthouse on Lake Huron and is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Michigan. It helps keep watch over Lake Huron at the entrance to the St. Clair River. The 86 ft light stands above the lake level in a conical stone tower, overlaid with
red brick that has been painted white.
The keeper’s cottage and fog whistle house are red. Tower climbs and tours are available during business hours, weather permitting. 2802 Omar Street
Port Huron, MI 48060
(810) 984-9790
info@phmuseum.org
40 Mile Point Lighthouse is located on the northern shoreline of Lake Huron in Presque Isle County’s Lighthouse Park,
Rogers City, Michigan. At a cost of $25,000, the station was completed by the end of 1896. Its 4th Order Fresnel lens has been
a welcoming beacon to sailors since May 1897 and is still operating today. In 1996, the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society began restoring the lighthouse, outbuildings and grounds. Several years ago, the pilot house from the Steamer Calcite, built in 1912 and the first self-unloading steamer on the Lakes, was relocated to the reservation. The park
is open to the public year-round. The lighthouse museum, pilot house and gift shop are open 10am-4pm Tuesday through Sunday beginning Memorial Day weekend through mid-October. Admission is free. Group tours can also be arranged.
7323 US 23N Lighthouse Park Rogers City, MI 49779 (989) 734-4587 barbara71@hughes.net
The Grand Traverse Lighthouse marks the end of the Leelanau Peninsula and has guided ships in the Manitou Passage of Lake Michigan for nearly 150 years making it one of the oldest on the Great Lakes.
This lighthouse is sponsored by the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Foundation and features a historic and educational museum resembling a lighthouse keeper’s home of the 1920s and 30s with a variety of exhibits depicting a broad spectrum of maritime and local history.
15550 N Lighthouse Point Road Leelanau State Park
Northport, MI 49670
(231) 386-7195 gtlthse@triton.net
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, located at Michigan’s Whitefish Point Light-Station, is approximately 1.5 hours drive from the Mackinac Bridge. With more than 200 shipwrecks lying in the immediate vicinity, the area is known as Lake Superior’s
Shipwreck Coast. The museum features top quality exhibits of shipwreck artifacts, artwork, shipwreck models, new exhibits and lifelike mannequins. The bell of the famous steamer Edmund Fitzgerald is on display and serves
as a memorial to her crew. The famous Whitefish Point Light Tower is open for tours. The museum is open every day, 10am-6pm from May 1 to October 31.
18335 North Whitefish Point Road PO Box 291
Paradise, MI 49768
Reservations: (906) 492-3747
Toll Free: (888) 492-3747 Phone: (906) 635-1742 glshs@shipwreckmuseum.com
The Harbor Beach Lighthouse is located at the end of the north breakwater entrance to the harbor of refuge, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, protecting the harbor of Harbor Beach. Located on the Thumb on Lake Huron, the Harbor Beach lighthouse has been guiding mariners along the shore and
into the former “world’’s greatest man made harbor” for over 125 years.
The lighthouse has been completely restored, and offers tours every Saturday during the summer. Tour reservations recommended, not always available. View from Waterworks Park and Harbor Beach.
Harbor Beach, MI 48441 (989) 479-3321 hoerrfam@msn.com
Huron Lightship Museum at Pine Grove Park, was the last lightship on the Great Lakes and is now open to the public from April through mid-December. Lightships were like floating lighthouses anchored in areas where
it was too deep, expensive or impractical to construct a lighthouse. Huron lightship was stationed at various shoals on Lake Michigan until 1935 when she was transferred to Corsica Shoals in Lake Huron. For the next 36 years