Wisconsin - Eagle Bluff Lighthouse

This lighthouse is located in Peninsula State Park, Fish Creek, WI. It was constructed of cream city brick at a cost of $12,000. The area was a wilderness at the time it was built and the building materials were brought in by boat from Detroit and Milwaukee, and landed on the north shore of the Lighthouse Bay (now Tennyson Bay). The light tower is 43 feet tall, enabling the light to shine 76 feet above the bay. The tower was equipped with a "Third and a half order" Fresnel Lens. Eagle Bluff's light could be seen for up to 16 miles. Then in 1918 the original lens was replaced with a Fifth Order Fresnel Lens. The light was automated in 1926, first with acetylene gas then later with batteries, and finally with solar power. There was no electricity at Eagle Bluff. The next 34 years saw the automated light shining over the bay, but the keeper's house was dark, mostly empty, and gradually it deteriorated from lack of use and interest. At the time of my visit in 2002, the lens remained in the lantern tower although no longer operational.

Restoration of Eagle Bluff:  In 1960 the Door County Historical Society selected Eagle Bluff Lighthouse to research, restore, completely furnish and open as a museum. It is thought that theirs was the first lighthouse restoration in the county. The restoration took 4 years. Volunteers worked faithfully, winter and summer, returning the house to its original floor plan including removal of additions, partitions, and as much as 80 coats of government issued paint. The house was then furnished with choice examples of furniture and artifacts of the period.

One of the Lighthouse Keepers from 1883-1918 was William Duclon, his wife Julia, and their 7 sons. Members of the Duclon family participated in the restoration by contributing photos, documents, artifacts, and information on the house. The most important family member involved in the restoration was Walter Duclon, the youngest of the Duclon boys, who was just over 1 year old when his family moved to this lonely outpost back in 1883. Although he was nearly 80 years old during the restoration, Walter Duclon was reported to be most helpful by recalling in great detail how the house was furnished. He was even able to recover some of the original artifacts. Eagle Bluff Lighthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

The year 2001 marked the 37th continuous year that the Historical Society had operated the lighthouse. The lighthouse has a kitchen, dining and living room, formal parlor, music room, master bedroom plus a hallway and formal entrance on the Bay side. The hallway leads to the attached tower where the cast iron filigree stairs circle upward to the second floor of the home and on up to the lantern room. On the second floor is a small room that had several different uses and the large bedroom at the end of the hall that housed all 7 of the boys in their youth.