A Michigan Beauty - Sand Point Lighthouse

Sand Point Lighthouse is located at Escanaba, MI in the upper Peninsula of Lake Michigan. The lighthouse was built in 1867 by the National Lighthouse Service at a cost of $11,000. The structure was a one and a half story rectangular brick building, which was standard at the time, with an attached brick tower topped by a cast-iron lantern room. It housed a fourth-order Fresnel lens which was first lit on the night of 13 May 1868. The focal plane of its fixed white signal was forty-four feet above the water level.

The Sand Point Lighthouse served mariners continuously from 1868 until 1939, except for a short time in 1886 when it was out of commission because of a fire which severely damaged the building. This fire also cost the life of Mary Terry, who was one of the first women light keepers on the Great Lakes.

By 1939, contours of the Escanaba Harbor had been changed by dredging and filling, thereby leaving the lighthouse some distance from the hazard for which it had been providing warnings. So, upon taking responsibility for navigational lights that year, the U.S. Coast Guard constructed a crib light several hundred feet offshore. The lighthouse no longer was needed for navigational aid, so, after major alterations, it became the residence for the Officer-in-Charge of the station.

In 1985, the Coast Guard discontinued use of the building and a lease was negotiated with the Delta County Historical Society. Restoration was done to the exterior to bring it back to the appearance of the original lighthouse. The interior spaces were decorated as they would have appeared a hundred years ago, following the 1886 fire.

At the time of my visit here in 1998, the Delta County Historical Society operated the lighthouse as a museum.