Michigan - Sand Point Lighthouse

       The Sand Point Lighthouse is located at Escanaba, MI, in the upper peninsula of Lake MI. This lighthouse was built in 1867 by the National Lighthouse Service at a cost of $11,000. It's a one-and-a-half-story rectangular brick building which was standard for the times. The attached brick tower was forty-four feet high and topped with a cast iron lantern room which housed a Fourth Order Fresnel lens. The light was a fixed red signal and first showed on the night of 13 May 1868.
       This lighthouse served mariners continuously from 1868 until 1939 with one exception. For a short time during 1886 it was out of commission because of a fire which severely damaged the building. This fire also cost the life of Mary Terry, one of the first women light keepers on the Great Lakes.
       By 1939, the contours of the Escanaba Harbor had been changed by dredging and filling, which left the lighthouse some distance from the Sand Point Hazard for which it had been giving warnings for years. So, upon taking responsibilities for navigational lights that year, the Coast Guard constructed a crib light several hundred feet offshore. The lighthouse, after major alterations, then 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 to the exterior of the lighthouse was completed to return it to its original appearance. The interior spaces were decorated as they would have appeared a hundred years ago, following the 1886 fire.
In 1998 I visited this lighthouse, and it stood as an example of pride and many hours of hard work put forth by the historical society to preserve a piece of Escanaba's local history.