Betsie celebrates her 150th birthday this
year, as an ardent group of friends continue working on an ambitious makeover
for the venerable Lake Michigan lighthouse.
Point Betsie Lighthouse, located on a remote stretch
of Lake Michigan beach about five miles north of the resort town of Frankfort
in Michigan’s lower peninsula, became one of my favorite places to visit after
my first trip there 30 years ago.
The lighthouse’s remote location, down the easily missed
Point Betsie Road off of the scenic stretch of highway M-22 running along
northern Lake Michigan’s shore, makes it a little difficult to find.
However, the view alone is well worth the trip.
I’ve often heard that the Point Betsie light is one
of the most photographed Great Lakes’ lights. Considering that there are
several hundred lights lining the Great Lakes in United States and Canada,
Point Betsie’s popularity says a lot about the lure of the site’s beauty.
The original 37-foot tower, built in 1858, had a
52-foot focal plane and a ten-mile visibility range. Numerous alterations over
the years meant some changes to the face of Point Betsie Lighthouse, but her
steady presence and bright beacon always marked a key turning place for ships
entering or leaving the treacherous Manitou Passage. Many sunken ships now rest
in the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve for the enjoyment and exploration of
divers.
The Point Betsie Lighthouse is one of the more
architecturally unusual lighthouses I’ve seen. Its attached, two-story keepers’
quarters, which underwent a major renovation in 1894, sports a distinctive red gambrel-style
roof.
About 15 years ago, we stayed at a bed-and-breakfast
inn attached to the West Point Lighthouse in Prince Edward Island. The
innkeeper (at that time, a granddaughter of a former West Point Lighthouse
keeper) encouraged guests to bring photos of lighthouses in their area for
inclusion in scrapbooks at West Point’s museum. When she saw our photo of Point
Betsie, she agreed that it was one of the more unusual lighthouses she’d ever seen.
By the early 1980s, Point Betsie remained the last
manned light on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. The Coast Guard automated the
light by 1984.
The Coast Guard occupied the light station and
maintained it until winter of 1996, when a failed boiler forced them to leave
because of lack of heat.
By 2004, the light station’s ownership transferred
to Michigan’s Benzie County, and the Friends of the Point Betsie Lighthouse
began their most ambitious restoration efforts.
Today, the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse spearhead
continuing efforts to restore and maintain the lighthouse. Memberships in the
group and sale of items (like Jonathan P. Hawley’s newly published book about
Point Betsie) in the lighthouse gift store and at the Friends’ Web site, help
finance restoration, preservation and maintenance costs.
We never saw the inside of Point Betsie Lighthouse
through many years of visiting it. So imagine our surprise and thrill one
summer, shortly after the Benzie County and Friends’ takeover of the site, when
we discovered that we could tour the inside of the lighthouse and climb the
spiral staircase to the top of the tower.
The lighthouse opens for tours only during summer
and early fall, but long walks along the secluded beach, photographing picturesque
Point Betsie or simply sitting and meditating as the waves roll into the sandy
shore and crash against the steel breakwaters near the foot of the light tower are
perfect ways to enjoy the wild, natural beauty of Point Betsie year round.
Check out the book Point Betsie: Lightkeeping and Lifesaving on Northeastern Lake Michigan by Jonathan P. Hawley to learn more about the lighthouse and its history.
© Dominique King 2008
What a pretty lighthouse! I'm not sure i've ever seen one in the US, so it looks like I should head to western MI. I've always wanted to see an old covered bridge too.
Posted by: Rachel Burton | November 06, 2008 at 08:44 PM
are we on the same wavelength? gorgeous photos! i do love this area. our cottage is by onekama.
Posted by: jessiev | November 14, 2008 at 01:57 PM
Jessie, We've been visiting this area for ages!
I've held back doing a lot of "up north" posts, saving them back to do this winter and spring. So many things I could blog about up there...
You should definitely head out to northwestern Michigan, Rachel. Several pretty lighthouses up there.
Looking through my photos to see what I have of the covered bridges we've seen (mostly in Ohio) sometime in the future...hopefully that will be something I can blog about this winter.
Posted by: Dominique | November 15, 2008 at 02:08 PM