Leaving our hotel in Mackinaw City, we planned to visit three lighthouses on our way back home. Plans changed as we reached our first stop. Each lighthouse has its own history and stories. Instead of running from one to another, punching our ticket, each lighthouse deserves to be savored.
McGulpin Point Lighthouse provided protection to ship traffic from 1869 to 1906. Then, for the next 103 years it was dark. Many lighthouses have sadly been destroyed over the years from neglect, fire, vandalism and theft as technology moved on. Some lighthouses are under private ownership now. Many Michigan lighthouses have been saved by local governments and bands of citizens. Such is the case with McGulpin, as locals renovated and relit the lighthouse in 2009.
The grounds are well maintained. Signage tells the stories of its history. And stories of several nearby shipwrecks. In a way, these lighthouses are grave markers, of the men buried beneath the waters of the Great Lakes. More than 6,000 ships, 30,000 lives lost.
