Beaver Island Harbor Light (or St. James Light) is a
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
located in
St. James, Michigan, on the northern end of
Beaver Island on
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
. It has also been called "St. James Harbor Light" and "Whiskey Point Light". It is associated with a
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...
station, which was formerly a lifesaving station. The tower is constructed of
Cream City Brick.
Whiskey Point was originally named for the 1838
fur trading post that operated on the point, and for the commodity that was the post's chief item of sale. Soon afterward in the 1850s, St. James's Harbor on Beaver Island became established as a safe haven in a storm (an event quite common on Lake Michigan). The light was thus a natural extension of the emergency usage. The original light was constructed in 1856, and the light currently in use was constructed in 1870.
At this time, the harbor is used by the Beaver Island ferry, so the light is still an active aid to navigation.
Image:Beaverislandharbor1.jpg, U.S. Coast Guard Archive Photo
Image:USCGBeaverislandharbor2.jpg, Station without Keeper's Quarters, U.S. Coast Guard Archive Photo
See also
*
Beaver Island Head Light
The Beaver Head Light is located high on a bluff on the southern tip of Beaver Island. Boats trying to navigate North on Lake Michigan need to carefully work their way between Beaver Island and Gray's Reef.
The cylindrical tower was built in ...
References
External links
Aerial photos, Beaver Harbor Lighthouse, marinas.com.
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081010005245/http://www.beaverisland.net/History/A_Brief_History/Whiskey_Point_Lighthouse/ History of the Beaver Island (Whiskey Point) Lightsby the Beaver Beacon.
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Lighthouses completed in 1856
Lighthouses completed in 1870
Buildings and structures in Charlevoix County, Michigan
Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Transportation in Charlevoix County, Michigan
National Register of Historic Places in Charlevoix County, Michigan