Lighthouses always seem so peaceful to me and yet they were built because of events which weren’t peaceful like storms and hidden rocks. Split Rock Lighthouse was built in response to the Mataafa storm that damaged twenty nine ships on November 28, 1905. One of these shipwrecks, the Madeira, is located just north of the lighthouse.

Congress appropriated money for a lighthouse and fog signal in the vicinity of Split Rock. Built on a 130 foot cliff, the 54 foot tower sends it half second light 22 miles across Lake Superior every 9.5 seconds and its fog horn blasts for 2 seconds with 18 seconds of silence which could be heard for 5 miles.

The lighthouse was only accessible by water for nearly 15 years so all construction materials were brought in by barge and hoisted up the cliff with a derrick and a steam-powered hoist.

The light was first lit on July 31, 1910 and the light was retired in 1969 when modern navigational equipment made it obsolete.

Split Rock Lighthouse is one of the most recognized and photographed icons in the state of Minnesota. Generally you see the close up of the lighthouse on the cliff, and I have taken my share fair of those, but this was the view I had from my campsite where I watched both the moon and sun from my front door (or at least my tent flap).

This view is not a picture to shrink down to post and still see magnificent lighthouse but I could just about envision the ship captains peering across the lake hoping to catch the lighthouse so they could safely navigate the waters, where I just had to navigate a few feet to the bench to enjoy the view.

Split Rock Lighthouse across the Bay