During the brief passing showers this Saturday, you could spend some time inside a museum, like a lighthouse keeper’s residence and see the desk where the light keeper recorded the entries for the day.
Light Keeper’s Desk
Picture of the Day for December 1, 2021
When the old Baileys Harbor Lighthouse needed to be replaced, the Lighthouse Board decided that range lights at the head of Baileys Harbor with nearby Cana Island light would serve navigation better. The rear fixed white Bailey Harbor Range Light is in the keeper’s house. Near the shore and 950 feet from the rear light, the front fixed red range light was in an octagonal tower. Ships entering the harbor needed to keep the white light directly above the red light as they entered the harbor. Although the first keeper of the new Baileys Harbor Range Lights was appointed on December 1, 1869, the lights were not put into operation until the navigation season opened the following year.
Baileys Harbor Range Lights
Picture of the Day for October 15, 2021
Perched on a bluff 76 feet above Green Bay’s waters, a third-and-a-half-order Fresnel lens in the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse was first shown on October 15, 1868. The fixed-white beacon was visible for sixteen miles in clear weather. Because the light tower was the highest point on the bluff, it was often struck by lightning which traveled the the circular iron staircase damaging furnishings and walls so it was a good thing it was a sunny day when I climbed the staircase.
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse
Picture of the Day for September 4, 2021
The holiday weekend has people enjoying some outdoor activities, including taking a boat out on Lake Michigan past the Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse. A pair of range lights were installed in 1891 and changes to the lights happen through the years. The present square lighthouse on the south pier was built in 1931 with a fifth-order Fresnel lens.
Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse
Picture of the Day for August 15, 2021
The boat rides to the Apostle Islands would have been a pleasurable trip with the nice summer weather this weekend. Devils Island has sea caves and a lighthouse that was built in 1898, although the lens didn’t arrive until three years later. The plain cylinder tower was exposed to high winds that caused the tower to shake badly which sometimes extinguished the lamp. The structure was reinforced with external braces in 1914 to alleviating the motion problem.
Devils Island Light
Picture of the Day for August 9, 2021
It is always interesting to see the different staircases inside lighthouse towers. The metal tight spiral is common and I rather have them inside than on the outside of the tower. As I was coming back down this staircase, a tour schooner was passing by the lighthouse and fired off a cannon. It was a good thing that I didn’t jump too high and fall down the spiral stairs.
Lighthouse Spiral Staircase
Picture of the Day for August 7, 2021
On August 7, 1789, that Congress approved an Act for the establishment and support of lighthouse, beacons, buoys and public piers so today is National Lighthouse Day. Situated on a 76-foot bluff that overlooks the Strawberry Channel of Green Bay, Eagle Bluff Light was built in 1866 and automated in 1926.
Eagle Bluff Light
Picture of the Day for July 31, 2021
This evening the beacon will be burning bright in the Split Rock Lighthouse lantern room to celebrate the first time the third order Fresnel was lit back on July 31, 1910. Normally the retired lighthouse beacon is not lit so it is a treat when it shines across the water and maybe one year I can be there in person to view.
Since there were no roads in the area at the time of construction, all the building materials and supplies arrived by water and hoisted to the top of the 130 foot cliff but Split Rock Lighthouse became such a tourist attraction so a road was built to it in 1924.
Seeing the Light Again
Picture of the Day for July 7, 2021
The second keeper at the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse for 35 years was Civil war veteran Captain William Duclon who lived there with his wife, Julia, and seven sons. She wanted to give her children a musical education and taught her sons how to play the Rosewood piano which William paid a month’s pay for it. The boys formed their own band and were favorite entertainers in the area. They would take the piano with them by removing the legs to get it out of the lighthouse.
Traveling Lighthouse Piano
Picture of the Day for June 13, 2021
Many of the early lighthouses in the region had several common buildings, including the keeper’s house, the lantern room either in a separate tower or part of the keeper’s house, oil storage building and the privy. This view of the Cana Island Lighthouse has all four. The tower and keeper’s dwelling was built in 1869.
The two hole outhouse was built in 1906 but because of the solid rock only a couple feet below the surface, buckets were used instead of a deep hole. The six-sided oil house was constructed with local stones in 1890 which stored mineral oil and kerosene. In 1934, the light was converted from fuel to an electric bulb.
Cana Island Buildings
