But, wait, Marblehead was not the first lighthouse to be built on the Great Lakes . That honor goes to Mississauga Lighthouse built in 1804 but demolished in 1814 to make way for Fort Mississauga on the shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara River in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario .
The Mississauga Lighthouse as it looked in 1904— typical Ontario pyramidal style lighthouse with a leanto.
All the Great Lakes are great, but Superior is superior . It contains more water than all the other Great Lakes combined plus two extra Lake Eries . It is the second largest freshwater lake in the world and holds 10 percent of the world’s freshwater . At its deepest it’s 1,333 feet, a quarter of a mile . The first Europeans to set foot in Superior were French . They called it la Grande Lac meaning the big lake, and also lac Sup’erieur, the anglicized name we use today .
To quote Wayne Sapulski, Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association Historian,
Of 76 lighthouses of historical interest on Lake Superior, 35 are accessible by land . Included in that number are the lighthouses on an island where the island is accessible either by a car ferry or a regularly scheduled passenger ferry just for foot traffic .
Since time immemorial, Dakota and Ojibwe peoples and their ancestors have plied the waters of the big lake in birch bark and dugout canoes transporting trade goods east and west . In the 1600s Native Americans brought furs to the French mission at Michilimackinac to trade for iron pots, guns, powder, shot, knives, and unfortunately, whiskey Under
the British, Michilimackinac became a trading post known as Fort Mackinac—today reconstructed on Mackinac Island . Voyageurs paddled 25-foot freight canoes on Superior carrying pelts they’d traded for near Rainey Lake and points west
The great open pit mines of Minnesota—the Cayuga, Vermillion, and Mesabi—shipped iron ore to smelters in Buffalo and Cleveland . More shipping came from silver mines near Thunder Bay, Ontario, and copper and iron mines in Upper Michigan . As the forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan were clear cut, timber was shipped to meet demands in the east
Lake Superior was the last of the Great Lakes to have lighthouses, but they proliferated as soon as the Soo Locks were completed in 1855, connecting Lake Superior with the lower Great Lakes, bypassing the rapids and 23-foot drop in St Marys River . Of Superior’s roughly 66 lighthouses about half can be reached by automobile .
Because of its sheer size and unabated fetch, storms are severe, northern gales in particular, with wind gusts up to 86 miles an hour and waves nearly 30 feet high .
The 1874 Norman Gothic Sand Island Lighthouse marks the western extremity of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior.
Construction of the Italianate Outer Island Lighthouse began in 1873 but was abruptly halted when it was discovered it was being built on the wrong site. Construction resumed on the correct site about 1,300 feet away and was finished in 1874.
My daughter Kathi and I drove up to Bayfield, Wisconsin, over Memorial Day weekend in 2022 . On the way to the Apostle Islands, we detoured through Ashland, Wisconsin, so I could sketch the Ashland Breakwater Lighthouse
In the late 1800s Ashland, Wisconsin, was a busy harbor on Chequamegon Bay exporting brownstone, lumber and iron ore. A concrete and rip rap breakwater built in 1893 provided a refuge harbor. The 1915 reinforced concrete Ashland Breakwater Lighthouse stands today at 82 feet.
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a French Jesuit traveler and historian, named the collection of islands after the 12 apostles . There are in fact 22 islands but only 12 over 1,000 acres in size None of the islands bears the name of an apostle . Today the islands are under the control of the National Park Service .
Kathi and I stayed at the Rittenhouse Inn and enjoyed a sumptuous repast Next day we took the boat cruise among the Apostle Islands; however, we passed only two with lighthouses—Devil’s Island and Raspberry Island .
The 1898 Devil’s Island Lighthouse, in the outer ring of the Apostle Islands, is an active light at 82 feet atop an imposing cliff with small caves carved out of the red sandstone by wave action. The tower is made of ½ inch steel plate. In 1914 exterior bracing was added to the light to quell the unseemly shaking in high winds. Abandoned radiobeacon frame can be seen at right. First Lady and President Coolidge visited Devil’s Island for a splendid luncheon in 1928—not often does a lighthouse receive such an honor.
Raspberry Island Lighthouse gets its name from the Raspberry River empties into Raspberry Bay west of Bayfield. Its fifth-order Fresnel Lens was first displayed in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. The early 1900s saw a major expansion of the lighthouse building to house not only the keeper but also two assistants. The station was closed down in 1947.
Ten years later the St Paul firm Ellerbe Architects leased the island as a corporate retreat. Raspberry Island became part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in 1970 and Ellerbe’s lease terminated five years later—friends of mine were lucky enough to have spent time there.
Cecelia McLean, a keeper’s wife, commented on her 18 years on lighthouses the Apostle Islands after she and her husband retired:
When a woman marries a lighthouse keeper, she gives up everything else in the world…We always had to keep up two homes, as women and children had to be off the islands by October 15th, and when you have two homes to maintain, something had to be slighted . We slighted necessities . Luxuries—we had none of them .
In the afternoon Kathi shopped while I visited the wonderful Bayfield Maritime Museum . That evening we ate at Morty’s Pub Kathi had a fried bologna sandwich—what was she thinking?
On the way back home to Chisago City, Minnesota, we detoured again, this time following WI-13 along the south shore of Lake Superior all the way out on the narrow and deserted peninsula to Superior Entry Observation Point . I sat in the car and sketched the Wisconsin Point Lighthouse while Kathi reminisced about her fried bologna sandwich .
Wisconsin Point and Minnesota Point form a set of calipers defining the natural harbor of Superior, Wisconsin, where the St Louis River gives its water to Lake Superior. The 1913 Wisconsin Point Lighthouse replaced a series of lights the first dating from 1858. It’s been privately owned since 2019.
Minnesota Point Lighthouse looks like a bad case of leprosy—a slow and painful death. None of us would like this. The cement plaster parging has loosened from the red brick tower, and it’s only a matter of time until all of it lies at the base. The lighthouse was first activated in 1858, the year Minnesota became a state. Just 20 years later it became redundant, replaced by a pierhead light. Although it’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974, nothing has been done to save it. A shame.
1. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse, Gulliver, Michigan
2. Manistique East Pierhead Lighthouse, Manistique, Michigan
3. Peninsula Point Lighthouse, Bay De Noc Township, Michigan
4. Sand Point Lighthouse, Escanaba, Michigan
5. Menominee Lighthouse, Menominee, Michigan
6. Grassy Island Range Lighthouses, Green Bay, Wisconsin
7. Sherwood Point Lighthouse, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
8. Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Fish Creek, Wisconsin
9. Cana Island Lighthouse, Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin
10. Old Baileys Harbor Lighthouse, Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin
11. Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
12. Sturgeon Bay North Pierhead Lighthouse, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
13. Algoma Pierhead Lighthouse, Algoma, Wisconsin
14. Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse, Kewaunee, Wisconsin
15. Rawley Point Lighthouse, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
16. Two Rivers North Pierhead Lighthouse, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
17. Manitowoc North Breakwater Lighthouses, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
18. Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
19. Port Washington Lighthouse, Port Washington, Wisconsin
20. Port Washington Breakwater Lighthouses, Port Washington, Wisconsin
21. Milwaukee North Point Lighthouse, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
22. Wind Point Lighthouse, Wind Point, Wisconsin
23. Racine North Breakwater Lighthouse, Racine, Wisconsin
24. Kenosha Lighthouse, Kenosha, Wisconsin
25. Kenosha Breakwater Lighthouses, Kenosha, Wisconsin
26. Waukegan Harbor Lighthouse, Waukegan, Illinois
27. Grosse Point Lighthouse, Evanston, Illinois
28. Michigan City East Pierhead Lighthouse, Michigan City, Indiana
29. St Joseph Front and Rear Range Lighthouses, St Joseph, Michigan
30. South Haven Lighthouses, South Haven, Michigan
31. Holland Harbor (Big Red) Lighthouse, Holland, Michigan
32. Grand Haven Lighthouses, Grand Haven, Michigan
33. Muskegon Lighthouses, Muskegon, Michigan
34. Ludington North Pierhead Lighthouse, Ludington, Michigan
35. Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse, Manistee, Michigan
36. Frankfort North Pier Lighthouse, Frankfort, Michigan
37. Point Betsie Lighthouse, Frankfort, Michigan
38. Grand Traverse Lighthouse, Northport, Michigan
39. Mission Point Lighthouse, Old Mission, Michigan
40. Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse, Charlevoix, Michigan
In 1872, 20 years after the creation of the Lighthouse Board, the first Thimble Shoal Lighthouse was erected, but it was destroyed by fire eight years later. A new spider style lighthouse was erected in less than a year. But after a series of rammings by passing ships it was replaced by a sparkplug style lighthouse set on a caisson.
Great Beds Lighthouse is not a Bed and Breakfast; beds refers to the oyster beds off the coast of Staten Island, New York. It marks a shoal of the same name. The 42-foot tower sits on a conical caisson and was built in 1880 under the auspices of the Lighthouse Board.
In 1910 the Lighthouse Board was dismantled . It had been necessary to oversee a system too complex for one man . Now the board was obsolete, and one man took over again
President Howard Taft appointed George Putnam as commissioner . Putnam had an impressive resume with the US Coast & Geodetic Survey . The Lighthouse Bureau headed was commonly known as the Lighthouse Service —again .
Putnam instituted changes including radio beacons, which transformed lighthouse operation, and electrification of lighthouses The introduction of the sun valve was a first step toward automation .
As these improvements replaced lighthouse keepers, Putnam lobbied successfully for retirement pensions, disability benefits, survivors’ benefits, and higher salaries .
By the time Putnam retired in 1935 at the age of 70, aids to navigation had doubled while the number of employees had been reduced by 15 percent The New York Times offered a fitting coda:
He was one of those quiet, capable, hardworking chiefs of government service of whom the general public hears little, but to whom it owes much . When you think of men of his character and devotion, the word ‘bureaucracy’ loses its sting
In 1939, on the eve of the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s signing of the act that put lighthouses under federal control, President Franklin Roosevelt merged the Lighthouse Bureau with the
US Coast Guard—at that time there were at least 508 lighthouses, 39 lightships, 1,764 for signals, 15,675 buoys, and 64 tenders . Both the Lighthouse Service and the Coast Guard had the same objective, and economic efficiency could be achieved: one million dollars in the first year alone . This was also a timely move in light of the war clouds forming in Europe and Japan—the US Coast Guard became part of the US Navy during WWII
The Coast Guard took over management and to a large extent staffing of the lighthouses . Under its Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program, tended lighthouses were phased out during the 1960s and 70s . The Golden Age of Lighthouses, which had lasted nearly 100 years, was at an end .
Wheeler writes:
The era of manned lighthouses in this country was fast approaching an end… as surely as had the era of the tall ship and steam locomotives…a quaint and altruistic way of life has passed over the horizon .
The trip down the west shore of Lake Michigan began on the heels of the trip to Munising, Michigan, which wrapped up my Lake Superior sketches—in fact the second half of the same trip .
Leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Sault Ste Marie, I filled my travel mugs, wrapped up some of their delicious cinnamon rolls, and was on my way . The stormy weather had cleared; the sun was at my back as I headed west on MI-28 then south on MI-77 .
When I pulled into the parking area at Seul Choix Point Lighthouse I seemed to be the only one there . Grabbing my folding chair, I set about sketching the lighthouse . The air was fresh, just cleaned by the rain . Suddenly a startling whirring noise—only the keeper whacking weeds .
Seul Choix Point was reportedly named by the French because it is the ‘only choice’ for shelter along northern Lake Michigan’s shoreline. The bay was an important fishing area in the mid-1800s, and the harbor became a refuge for vessels out of Chicago and Milwaukee. The handsome Seul Choix Point Lighthouse was placed in service in 1895 along with a fog signal building. Architect Orlando Poe had fun with the eyebrow gables.
In season the keeper’s quarters are open and you can climb the tower, legs permitting . The morning I visited there were two keepers—one staffed the gift shop and sold tickets to the keeper’s quarters and tower, the other collected the tickets and docented .
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse MAIN
Architect Orlando Poe developed a very functional plan with vestibules to keep out the cold and storm and separate door to kitchen for deliveries.
Tower Construction
Stone Masonry 1716-1907…..............
Brick 1755-1915…....................................................
Wood 1784-1922….............................................................................
Wrought Iron 1834-1900s….............................................................................
Cast Iron 1844-1900s…..........................................................................................
Steel 1880-present…....................................................................................................................
Reinforced Concrete 1908-1943….....................................................................................................
Tower Foundation
Masonry Footing 1716-present…......
Wood Pile 1828-1905…................................................................................
Crib 1832-1938…...............................................................................................
Metal Pile 1847-1907…..........................................................................................
Screw Pile 1848-1910….........................................................................................
Disk Pile 1858-1880….................................................................................................
Caisson 1867-1943….......................................................................................................
Pneumatic Caisson 1886-1914….............................................................................................
Source: HistoricLighthousePreservationHandbook, National Park Service, 1997.
Some of the early lighthouses were constructed of wood—not sturdy or fireproof Soon brick or rubble stone became the standard, but they often suffered from poor foundations, bad mortar or bad brick, or all three . Cottage Style lighthouses were built in sheltered locations usually of wood Tall towers were masonry bearing wall construction, thicker at the base to support the brick or stone above . Over time better brick and better mortar became available and lighthouses lived longer
In order for the lighthouses to serve as recognizable daymarks, they were painted distinctive colors . Often the top portion was red or black so it would stand out against the sky, and the lower portion white so it would contrast with a dark green coniferous background . But some were painted bright red as is the case with most of Wisconsin’s lighthouses on Lake Michigan Others were candy striped Occasionally horizontal or vertical stripes were used .
Sparkplug or coffeepot style Orient Point Lighthouse in Suffolk County, New York, is caisson supported.
The 1856 Cape Disappointment Lighthouse marks the side entrance to the Columbia River which has a formidable bar. Captain John Meares christened it because of his disappointment in not finding shelter here in 1788. The 53-foot tower sits on a 167-foot headland giving it a focal plane of 220 feet.
At Cape Disappointment Lighthouse by the mouth of the Columbia River, the cable was a lifesaver During a violent storm, the assistant keeper was on the gallery outside the lantern room cleaning windows . The door blew shut and locked due to faulty hardware The keeper’s only salvation was rappelling down the cable .
On a clear 66 degree morning in May of 2023, I headed my Q3 south, enjoined I-94, and was off toward Madison, Wisconsin, and the home of my high school classmate Carole and her husband Dick . For dinner we each had salmon at the Waypoint, plus a couple ‘World Famous Drinks of Wisconsin .’ Carole, blessed with great intelligence, had taught high school English but refused to quit when pregnant and was blacklisted . She morphed into directing professional associations, and later earned a JD
Next morning coffee and toast with mulberry jam and off to Waukegan, Illinois . Waukegan Harbor Lighthouse stood at the end of a long pier sprinkled with fisherpeople . It’s a fat drum style lighthouse adorned with a turquoise band matching the water color . How suiting .
Waukegan, Illinois, takes its name from a Pottawatomie word meaning trading post. The first lighthouse was built in 1849 and consisted of a cottage style lighthouse with a 35-foot tower springing from the roof of the keeper’s quarters. In the late 1800s the original Waukegan Harbor Lighthouse was replaced by a tower and a fog signal building was later attached. In the 1960s a fire destroyed the fog signal building.
Driving on through Evanston, Illinois, and the Northwestern University Campus, I came to a neighborhood-appropriate twostory mansion with a Poe style lighthouse on the lakeside . Right next door was the Harley-Clarke Mansion with a wedding underway . The fragrance of flowering lilacs sweetened the air as I set up my chair on the front lawn and sketched the Tawas Point Lighthouse .
The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse announces the entrance to the Chicago River which once flowed into Lake Michigan but now flows out. In 1831 construction commenced on the lighthouse, but it sank in quicksand before it could be completed. A second lighthouse was built in 1832. In the 1850s new piers were installed, and a skeleton framed lighthouse was constructed in 1859 and relocated in 1869. The cast iron light we see today was first lit in 1893 and relocated in 1919. By 2005 the Coast Guard deemed the property excess, and the City of Chicago took it over. However, since the city failed to maintain the light, General Services Administration asked that it be returned.
Charity Island Lighthouse has a newly reconstructed keeper’s house and you can rent one of its five rooms for an overnight stay. It’s been in private hands since1926—a good example of a lighthouse saved. The tower was constructed in 1857 marking the island and attendant shoals.
interstate highways For dinner, at the suggestion of the desk clerk, I backtracked 12 miles to Lucky’s Steakhouse and sourced a Martini to celebrate the trip . As I worked on the plan for tomorrow, I pondered the trip . I recalled John Steinbeck’s remarks in Travels with Charley :
My own journey…was over before I returned . I know exactly where and when it was over…without warning or goodbye or kiss my ass, my journey went away and left me stranded far from home . I tried to call it back, to catch it up—a foolish and hopeless matter, because it was definitely and permanently over and finished
My journey was now ended even though I’d need two more days of driving before I got home . All in all, this was just a dandy trip, weather perfect every day A bit rushed on account of the opening reception for an exhibit of my drawings at Landmark Center in St Paul . But no glitches I’d like to do this trip again, perhaps counterclockwise starting in Detroit—we’ll see .
The only snag on the whole journey occurred the next morning when I discovered my calendar and perpetual list were missing—must have left them at Lucky’s although I didn’t recall bringing them in with me . Lucky’s didn’t open until 11:00 . Yikes! Three hours of angst loomed, but upon searching further, the lost were found, the black covered calendar had just squished down in my black backpack . Deep breath, only one hour wasted
Now back on I-94 to Rockford, Illinois, where I grew up The plan was a night in Rockford, then a late breakfast with my friends Martha and Glen in Fitchburg, Wisconsin .
With a couple of hours to burn, I drove around Rockford and was hit by a tsunami of memory snippets triggered by places, past events, and people—many gone now
To paraphrase Pascal Mercier:
When you leave a place where you’ve spent some time, a part of you stays there…when you revisit, you time travel back to the memories
That night I asked the Holiday Inn clerk where I could eat with a view . He recommended Prairie Street Brewing Company on the Rock River . As the sun set over the river, I chatted with the couple at the next table They’d grown up here and agreed this factory town was now like a donut, empty in the middle .
Next day the interminable flatness of the Illinois prairie gradually gave way to the gently rolling hills of western Wisconsin . In the Driftless Area no glaciers had come to flatten the hills Green leaves everywhere, freshly emerged . And soon I was home .
The romantic notion of lighthouse keepers sitting around enjoying a laidback idyllic life couldn’t be further from the truth . Underpaid keepers led gloriously monotonous and boring lives filled with hard work . Once in a while the day was punctuated by a crisis—a capsized boat offshore, people in the water . Saving lives was, of course, paramount .
Sometimes a visit from the district inspector wanting everything to be literally white glove clean, even in keepers’ living quarters .
Keeping the light lit and the foghorn working were primary duties—the light was lit in the evening when sun was four fingers above horizon . The light must shine come hell or high water . Failure at this or failure to man the fog horn led to dismissal .
Now there were sometimes first, second, and third assistant keepers But that obviously meant work for the keeper just keeping them on task
Other responsibilities included polishing the prisms and bulls eye lenses and the brass frame holding them in place . Also
trimming the wicks—hence the term wikies . And painting the tower plus anything else that wasn’t moving . .
Cleaning the inside and outside of the windows in the lantern and watch rooms was sometimes dangerous because it required standing on the railing to reach the top of the windows . At least one keeper lost balance while removing ice and fell to his death .
If there was but one keeper, he’d have to check on the light twice a night and stay awake in the watch room all night if a storm was brewing . On top of all this, there was paperwork including daily log entries . Most were perfunctory, but not all . The1875 entry at Manitou Island Lighthouse in Lake Superior reads:
Principal keeper started at 8:00 pm in the station boat with wife for Cooper Harbor [sic, Copper Harbor], in anticipation of an increase soon after arriving…east of Horseshoe Harbor, Mrs Corgan gave birth to a rollicking boy; all things lovely, had everything comfortable aboard . Sea a dead calm .
This 1861 iron framed lighthouse stands at the east end of Manitou Island, three miles off the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior. It is identical to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse erected the same year. In 2002 the Manitou Island Lighthouse and the 93 acres it sits on were given to the Keweenaw Land Trust. It’s open to the public, but you’ll need a boat.
In 1874 the 123-foot USLHT Dahlia was the first to be specifically designed to serve the Great Lakes. Its reinforced wood hull resisted ice, and its thick decking supported materials and heavy equipment. Dahlia started the custom of botanical names for Great Lakes tenders. She also began the tradition of white superstructures and black hulls for Great Lakes tenders. They were known as the ‘Black Fleet.’ She served as an Inspection Tender out of Detroit and later out of Buffalo, New York.
Imagine this immense network—hundreds of lighthouses and their support buildings, hundreds of keepers and their families, nearly all in remote locations on or in the Great Lakes . Tenders were the ligature that bound them all together They were the heroes of the lighthouse story . In his piece, Tenders—The Unsung Heroes, Ralph Shanks says:
It is sad that lighthouse tenders have not received more recognition . They were the very lifeblood of the Lighthouse Service, a lifeline linking isolated stations to civilization .
Let’s take a look at tenders These small but essential vessels traveled under sail in the 1700s, transitioned to steam and sail in the 1800s, and by the end of that century they were steamships, sidewheelers and later propeller driven . The first Great Lakes tenders owned by the Lighthouse Service were the wood hulled sailing ships USLHT Lamplighter and USLHT Watchful
From 1857 to 1939, two dozen tenders were sailing the Great Lakes They were essential because of the vast distances—1,340 miles from Duluth to the mouth of the St Lawrence—rough terrain,
few roads in the 1700s and 1800s, and winter ice . They were often named after flowers .
Tenders were involved in search and rescue operations, a task which the Lighthouse Service took on in 1848—forerunner of the Life Saving Service . They towed lightships to their stations and replenished depots . Great Lakes lighthouses were seasonal because ice buildup curtailed winter shipping . So in the fall, tenders took keepers and their families to their winter homes and in the spring, brought them back to their lighthouses .
‘Engineering Tenders’ transported material and laborers to construct lighthouses, range lights, foghorn buildings, and keepers’ quarters They also set hundreds of buoys every spring and retrieved them before freeze up in the fall .
Arrival of a ‘Supply Tender’ was cause for celebration, and back when gold coin was used for the keepers’ pay, cause for added celebration . Perhaps more important, however, were deliveries of food, cooking oil, lamp oil, heating oil, medical supplies, clothing, furniture, a traveling library, and equipment or needed parts .
The 1910-1939 Lighthouse Service Districts on the Great Lakes. Source: Paul Mason and Douglas Peterson.
8. Ogden Point Lighthouse, named for Peter Skene, a fur trader and explorer employed by the Hudson Bay Company, was constructed in 1916.
9. Trial Island Lighthouse marks the narrow Enterprise Channel where tides can run at six to seven knots. It’s named after the island which was used for trial runs of naval ships.
10. Discovery Island Lighthouse was lit in 1886. After the first keeper died, his daughter Mary Ann Croft was appointed keeper and served for 30 years. She was Canada’s first female lightkeeper and for this received the Imperial Service Medal.
11. The first East Point Lighthouse was a wood building constructed in 1888. It was replaced in 1948 by a less attractive steel frame structure.
12. The 1885 Active Pass Lighthouse was replaced in 1940 by a square keeper’s house with a light on top. In 1969 the present reinforced concrete tower replaced the 1940 light, but the keeper’s quarters remain. Ownership was transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in 2006. The Canadian Coast Guard maintains the light.
13. Portlock Point Lighthouse is a small structure on Prevost Island named after Nathaniel Portlock master’s mate serving under Captain Cook aboard the H.M.S. Discovery and H.M.S. Resolution in the 1770s.
14. Built in 1902 Merry Island Lighthouse was not so named because of the merriment on the island but rather after James Merry a race horse owner known to George Richards who surveyed the British Columbia coast in 1860.
15. Chatham Lighthouse is not the most stunning, but it marks a small island where Discovery Passage makes a sharp turn into the Johnstone Strait.
A curiosity at Echo Bay Marina.
16. Pulteney Point Lighthouse sits on the southwest corner of Malcolm Island. The current concrete tower and fog signal building date from the early 1940s. In 1900 Finnish immigrant coal miners were given Malcolm Island for a community where everyone shared, participated, and was treated equally. Sointula, the main town, is a Finnish word meaning “a place of harmony.”
17. The present stark looking Quatsino Lighthouse replaced the original in 1977. It marks the entrance to Quatsino Sound. The first keeper’s brother-in-law drowned. The second keeper’s wife Catherine had to be committed to an insane asylum. Keeper Dickenson asked to leave in a little over a year later, and Keeper Warren drowned. Sadness prevailed.
