Since moving to Michigan, we have searched for new experiences… beaches, shopping, restaurants, scenic views, brewhouses, vineyards… and most of all… lighthouses.
“Why the fascination with lighthouses?”
A good question, not because answers don’t readily come to mind. But rather, because of the array of responses that build upon each other.
Michigan has a lot of them
My handy-dandy lighthouse guide says 129 lighthouses. That number is open to debate. What is a lighthouse, versus a light, versus a light station? Do ruins count? By most any measure tho, it is safe to say there are well over 100 Michigan lighthouses. With the most freshwater coastline of any state, and the navigation of the Great Lakes being so historically important, it is no surprise that Michigan is the #1 state for lighthouses.
Castles of the United States
When I visited Italy many years ago, castles were everywhere. Every town seemed to have one. Some in ruins, some maintained. And castles far from civilization, overlooking valley paths, perched in the mountains. If I lived there, they might become an obsession. For the most part, Europe has the castles, the US has the lighthouses. By the 19th centruy, the US had the most of any nation in the world.
Photos
Michigan beaches are varied and beautiful. But lighthouses along them are photographic magnets. Beaches, sunsets, sunrises, ships entering the harbor, loved ones at play… all look better with a lighthouse.
Hometown pride
Some lighthouses are gone forever. Many only ruins. Several under private ownership and now inaccessible. But many lighthouses of Michigan were saved by locals banding together. They believed in the importance of saving theirs. They knew their lighthouse is central to their community. Google Grand Haven. Most pictures center on the lighthouse, or have it in the background. Google any Michigan town with a lighthouse… the results are repeated everywhere.
The birth
Every lighthouse has a unique story. Why was it built? Was it to warn against danger? Or a welcoming beacon to safety? How was it built? With what materials? What is the story of the land upon which it is built? Was there a famous battle? A strategic peninsula or island? What are the dangers that it warns ships away? Or welcomes them to the safety of a harbor?
The lives
Who were the lighthouse keepers and their families? What lives did they live? Some were close to a town. Some lived a life of isolation. All had stories tied to our history as a nation.
The shipwrecks
Michigan waters contain countless shipwrecks and lives lost. While divers can visit many of them, lighthouses serve as an unofficial monument to the tragedies they were built to prevent.
Happy National Lighthouse Day
August 7th, 1789… Congress approved the act establishing and supporting lighthouses, beacons, buoys and piers. American lighthouses… worth experiencing… worth saving.
