Tonight the beacon was lit at Split Rock Lighthouse as remembrance of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and loss of the entire crew of 29 men during a storm on November 10, 1975 on Lake Superior. The freighter passed by this lighthouse the afternoon earlier, but it sank before reaching Whitefish Bay.
Split Rock Lighthouse
It is a chilly day when the winds picked up as the rain moved so not a good day to try to walk on the slippery rocks on the breakwater to reach the lighthouse.
Wisconsin Point Lighthouse
Today is National Lighthouse Day and one of my favorite lighthouses is Split Rock Lighthouse on a 133 foot cliff on Lake Superior, north of Duluth, MN. The light, first lit in 1910, was retired in 1969 by the U.S. Coast Guard and now is operated by the Minnesota Historical Society.
A Favorite Lighthouse
The iron ore dock at Superior, Wisconsin, is very busy right now, but with loading out of one elevator only, there are three freighters waiting outside the harbor as the fourth gets loaded.
Freighter Coming In
I saw the total lunar eclipse this morning as I headed out to set up for election day, so I didn’t have a nice subject, like a lighthouse, as a foreground to take a photo of moon plus the clouds started to move in. There will not be another total lunar eclipse until March 14, 2025.
Algoma Pierhead Lighthouse
Even on a cloudy day with a brief rain shower, it is always a fun time to visit a lighthouse, although you might not want to be riding top side of the boat in the rain. After a three year delay in getting the third order lens from the Paris, the Devils Island Light was finally lit on the new 82 foot tall steel cylinder in 1901. External braces were added in 1914 as high winds at the exposed location caused enough motion of the tower to extinguished the lamp so more support was needed.
Devils Island Light
People might take a boat ride on a nice Sunday summer afternoon around the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, including Long Island even though it is no longer an island, but is now part of a peninsula that stretches nearly eight miles out into Lake Superior, creating a natural breakwater for Chequamegon Bay. At the end of Long Island is the Chequamegon Point Lighthouse, which is a square, white steel room sitting on steel legs and is topped by an octagonal lantern with a red roof that was first lit in 1897.
Chequamegon Point Lighthouse
One of today’s celebrations is National Lighthouse Day. On August 7, 1789, the United States Congress approved an act securing the protection of all lighthouses under federal support and was signed by President George Washington. I wasn’t near any lighthouses today, so I will just have to look at pictures, like Eagle Harbor Lighthouse in Michigan which was built in 1871, to enjoy the Lighthouse Day.
A Light for Lighthouse Day
Taking a boat ride on a warm Sunday summer day is one way to cool down between the colder water temperature and catching the wind during the boat adventure, like to view a lighthouse on an island. Michigan Island is part of the Apostle Islands and has two lighthouses beside each other. The first was built in 1856 with an attached dwelling and the second taller lighthouse was built erected in 1929.
Michigan Island Lighthouses
As some people head north for the holiday weekend, some might stop and visit this lighthouse on their way to the cabin. Walking to this 1913 Wisconsin Point Lighthouse is a bit tricky as most of the third of a mile long breakwater is covered with large boulders. In 2019, the U.S. General Services Administration auctioned off this 56 foot tall lighthouse on Lake Superior.
Walking to the Light
