The Gull Rock Light Station is an active lighthouse located on Gull Rock, just west of Manitou Island, off the tip of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Keweenaw Peninsula The Keweenaw Peninsula ( , sometimes locally ) is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country." As o ...

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

. The light was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1984, even as its condition deteriorated, resulting in its placement on the

Lighthouse Digest ''Lighthouse Digest'', a specialty magazine from FogHorn Publishing in East Machias, Maine, is about maritime history with particular attention to the preservation of lighthouses and their past. Though it is geared toward enthusiasts and antiqu ...

Doomsday List ''Lighthouse Digest'', a specialty magazine from FogHorn Publishing in East Machias, Maine, is about maritime history with particular attention to the preservation of lighthouses and their past. Though it is geared toward enthusiasts and anti ...

History

The diminutive island is the “peak of an underwater mountain” between the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula and Manitou Island. The bay on the eastern side of the

offers protection to mariners from the prevailing northwestern winds on

; however, the passage by Gull Rock, a tiny islet about one-half mile off Manitou Island's western tip, proved a serious threat.Gull Rock Light Station
from the state of Michigan, retrieved 8/19/09 With that in mind, in 1866 Congress appropriated $15,000 for lighthouse construction on Gull Rock. Construction began in 1867 and the light was put into service on November 1 of the same year. The lighthouse shares its design with that of Granite Island Light and Huron Island Light Station.Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Gull Rock Island Light Station.
/ref> In 1901, a retaining wall was built northeast of the structure to protect the lighthouse from waves washing over the island. In 1913, the light was automated and responsibility for care of the light was transferred to the keeper of the nearby

Manitou Island Light Station The Manitou Island Light Station is a lighthouse located on Manitou Island, off the tip of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Description The Manitou Island Lig ...

. Since that time, Gull Rock was all but abandoned and the station fell into disrepair. In 2005, the station was transferred to the Gull Rock Lightkeepers, a nonprofit organization. They are working to restore the lighthouse, which is still an active navigational aid. The original Fourth Order Fresnel lens was manufactured by Barbier and Fenestre of Paris. It is said to be on display at Whitefish Point Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, although Terry Pepper claims that the lens may be misidentified. Lighthouse painted white; lantern and gallery painted black; roofs are red. Gravely endangered by erosion and wave action, this lighthouse is on the

. The lighthouse exterior was recently repaired and painted. The interior had been left open, and is in ruins with the removed roof jettisoned into it, and it suffered extensive water damage. The rocky

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

claimed six vessels, namely: Spokane (October 28, 1907), E.N. Saunders (May 30, 1910), L.C. Waldo (November 8, 1913), Taurus (November 27, 1918), Samuel Mather (October 19, 1923), Charles C. West (September 7, 1926). All were salvaged and removed to sail another day. The likely culprit was low visibility due to

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

. The failure to place a

fog signal A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...

would have been a factor. It is said that this was a low priority area, used by relatively few vessels, “as a short-cut . . . to find safety on the lee side of the point during northerly storms, nd not a normal traffic route.” As noted by Terry Pepper, the author of ''Seeing the Light'' and the Director of the Great Lakes Light Keepers Association: "Two hundred and fifty feet in length and one hundred feet in width, the highest point of Gull Rock stood less than twelve feet above the water under the calmest conditions, becoming virtually invisible in the gray darkness of stormy days when vessels were most likely to be threading their way through the passage." Major structural repairs were done on the light in the summer of 2012.

Description

Gull-rock-light-station-michigan-july-2017

The Gull Rock Light includes both the light tower and an attached keeper's house. The tower is constructed of brick, and measures high with internal stairs. The lantern is iron with ten sides and vertical bars. The original lens was a Fourth Order Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier and Fenestre of Paris. The original lens was replaced by a plastic lens; this lens continues to function in the light. The keeper's house is a two-story structure, constructed of brick with a gable roof. The house has suffered severe interior deterioration because of the length of time it has been abandoned. It formerly had a dormer, which is now missing.Gull Rock Lighthouse
from the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy. A brick

outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...

is also on site and survives to this day.

Getting there

The light is closed and off limits to visitors. It may be seen by private boat or on lighthouse cruises run by the Keweenaw Star out of

Houghton, Michigan Houghton (; ) is the largest city and seat of government of Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Uppe ...

, or by the Isle Royale Queen IV out of

Copper Harbor, Michigan Copper Harbor is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Keweenaw County, Michigan, Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located within Grant Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan ...

References

External links

*
Gull Rock Lightkeepers organization

from the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1867 Houses completed in 1867 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Lighthouses in Keweenaw County, Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan 1867 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan