The Point Betsie Lighthouse is located at the southern end of Manitou Passage at Frankfort, MI. It was built at a cost of $3,000 in 1858. The original name given was "Pointe Aux Becs Scies." This was such an important light that the original thirty-seven foot tower was replaced with a new 100 foot tower. The cylindrical light tower is surmounted by a ten sided cast iron lantern and produces a lens focal plane fifty-two feet above the mean low water level of Lake Michigan. It contains a fourth order Fresnel lens with flash panels. It was the last staffed light station on the east shore of Lake Michigan when the Coast Guard automated the light in 1983. The crystal lamp originally burned coal oil and later kerosene. At the time of my visit in 1998 this lighthouse had been electrified and the light automated. The lighthouse was owned by the Coast Guard and the old keepers quarters were being used for Coast Guard family housing.
2 comments:
Beautiful. I guess the automated lights was the end of the light keeper. I never think that a lake would need a light house, but then I have never seen the Great Lakes...guess that's why they are called "great."
Hi Judy. Yes, automation was the beginning of eliminating lighthouse keepers. The other action that eliminated them was when a lighthouse was declared non essential
by the Coast Guard.
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