The Port Sanilac Lighthouse is one of the few lighthouses I've found in Michigan that is privately owned, yet still operating as an active navigational aid.
You can find plenty of great vantage points from which to see this lighthouse, even though you can't enter the grounds or take a tour of the interior. The lighthouse sits behind a short wooden fence along a side street in this small town along Lake Huron, and you can get nice views from behind the lighthouse and tower by walking out on the breakwater near the town's marina.
Port Sanilac began as a lumbering community named Bark Shanty Point during the 1830s. Folks shortened the name to Bark Shanty, eventually changing it to Port Sanilac in 1857.
Port Sanilac sat between the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse at the south end of the lake and the Point Aux Barques Lighthouse at the tip of Michigan's Thumb. The Lake Huron coastline between these two lights could be dangerous because of shallow water, sandbanks, and lack of lights guiding the way. Maritime traffic often ran the 40-mile stretch between the ranges of the two lights blind.
Traffic increased in the area during the 1860s after opening the locks at Sault Ste. Marie in 1853 extended shipping routes all the way into Lake Superior.
The U.S. Lighthouse Board lobbied for money to build a lighthouse somewhere along this stretch of coastline starting in 1868. The board requested a $30,000 appropriation for the project, increasing the request to $40,000 in 1873. Congress turned down the requests.
Establishing a small light at Harbor Beach in 1875 failed to fully address the situation, leaving as much as 30 miles of still unlit coastline in the area.
In 1885, Congress finally appropriated $20,000 to build another lighthouse along this stretch of coastline. Construction started on the lighthouse at Port Sanilac in June of 1886.
The Port Sanilac light tower's octagonal shape with a bit of an hourglass silhouette is rare among Great Lakes lights. Only one other light tower, Ile Aux Galets, at the north end of Lake Michigan has the same architecture.
The 59-foot-tall light tower is 14 feet in diameter at its base, and tapers to a 9-foot diameter below the lantern gallery. A unique brick base in a reverse stair design with four windows cut into it is a watch room and support for the octagonal lantern room of cast iron.
The Fourth Order Fresnel lens installed atop the tower and first lit in October of 1886 is one of a handful of such lenses still in service today along the Great Lakes.
Keepers lived in a two-story home attached to the tower by a passageway that was the entrance for both structures.
In 1889, the site got a small brick oil storage building. A wooden outhouse and wooden covered well were also built.
Electricity came to the Port Sanilac Lighthouse in 1924, and helped increase the light's visibility to 16 miles from its original 13-mile range.
Port Sanilac's last keeper was Grace Holmes, the widow of long-time light keeper William Holmes. Grace became light keeper at William's death in 1926. Electrification of the light made a full-time keeper unnecessary and Grace saw her job as keeper abolished in 1928.
The lighthouse came into private ownership sometime later, and the Coast Guard still maintains the light.
Check out my story about the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse at the tip of Michigan's Thumb.
The Port Sanilac Lighthouse can be a little tough to photograph because of limits on access to the grounds and neighborhood obstructions like light poles and street signs, but you can find a few tips about photographing this lighthouse in The Photographer's Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses by Richard Edington.
© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved
I'm really fascinated by the fact that it's under private ownership. I wonder what the adjoining building is used for now. It's a shame there aren't lighthouse tours available.
Great photos, despite the challenges!
Posted by: Sarah V. | April 02, 2011 at 08:41 PM
Sarah-Are you asking about the attached home? I think someone is living in it.
I've actually seen a number of lighthouses that are now privately owned...often as homes. This one is a little more accessible than other privately owned ones I've seen, although I'm trying to remember where I filed a batch of photos I took of another one up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The privately owned ones aren't always marked or included in guidebooks...so they're not as easy to find.
Posted by: Dominique King | April 03, 2011 at 08:12 AM
Yes, I was thinking about the house. I didn't realize people often live in them even today. For a landlocked person like myself, that seems pretty incredible! It makes sense though, since keepers would have lived there in the past.
Posted by: Sarah V. | April 05, 2011 at 09:59 PM
Sarah-I've often thought it would be cool to live in a lighthouse, but the work most of them take to restore and maintain makes that pretty impossible for most folks today. This one sounds like it went into private ownership some years ago.
Posted by: Dominique King | April 06, 2011 at 05:44 AM
I'm such a sucker for lighthouses. It never occurred to me how many are in the Midwest - it's been fun discovering them. I love your photos.
Posted by: BethBlair | April 14, 2011 at 08:06 AM
Beth-There are over 110 lighthouses in Michigan alone! I've probably seen most of them at one time or another in Michigan and Ohio, but there are so many more I want to see (especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota).
Posted by: Dominique King | April 14, 2011 at 12:54 PM