This lonely sentinel, which was placed in operation on October 11, 1897, carried out years of service but it didn’t draw masses crowds to visit it like other lighthouses, especially with no land access. No fancy brick or stone building, no awestruck view, nor a fancy spiral staircase to take you to the top of the light, just a ladder for this short forty-two foot lighthouse.
There is not even a keeper’s house next to it for company, but instead the keeper came on a plank walk from the LaPointe Light Station, which was a little more than a quarter mile to the east, to wind up the weights for the 1,200 pound bronze fog bell every four hours.
So the lonely forgotten Chequamegon Point Light on the end of Long Island in the Apostle Islands, did its task without much recognition, with a re-used fourth-order lens from the old LaPointe Lighthouse, to guide ships into Ashland’s port with its fixed red light. The lighthouse had even less human interaction when the light was automated in 1964 until it was deactivated in 1986, replaced by the tubular structure that is now used.
Ignored Old Plain Lighthouse
Very interesting story.