The Rock Harbor Lighthouse is a light station located in Rock Harbor on

Isle Royale National Park Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan. ...

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 ...

. It 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 1977.

Description

The Rock Harbor Lighthouse is a cylindrical tower with a base, constructed of randomly placed stone and brick, capped with an octagonal beacon with a copper roof. A one-and-a-half-story keeper's house with gabled roof is connected to the tower on one end.

History

In 1852, due to the increase in shipping in

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 ...

, it was recommended that a new light be constructed on Isle Royale; the next year, Congress appropriated $5,000 to construct a light at Rock Harbor. Construction began in 1855, and was completed in 1856. The Rock Island Light was the first lighthouse constructed on Isle Royale. The first keeper arrived at the station on October 24, 1856, and the lighthouse went into operation a short time later. The light had been manned for less than three years when it was determined that, due to the decrease in mining traffic, it was no longer required. It was extinguished on August 1, 1859, and the lighthouse was abandoned. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, copper mining increased once more, and in 1873 renovations began on the station, leading to the reactivation of the light on August 5, 1874. However, after another drop in copper prices, and following the activation in 1875 of the

Isle Royale Light The Isle Royale Light, or Menagerie Island Light, is a lighthouse within Isle Royale National Park, in Keweenaw County, northern Michigan, United States. Description It is located in Lake Superior on Menagerie Island, the most easterly of the g ...

at Menagerie Island, the Rock Harbor Light was rendered less useful. On October 4, 1879, the Rock Harbor lighthouse was deactivated for the second and last time, having been in service for a total of only eight years since its construction. In 1910, the keeper's house was altered, including the addition of dormers. In the 1950s, the tower began to tilt, and an emergency stabilization was undertaken; the tower still leans approximately 2 degrees. The original wooden roof of the structure was replaced with asphalt in 1962, and the foundation was stabilized in 1969. The station is currently unmanned.

References

External links

Isle Royale National Park: Outdoor ActivitiesRock Harbor Lighthouse
Survey number HABS MI-386, Historic American Buildings Survey. {{authority control Lighthouses in Keweenaw County, Michigan Lake Superior National Register of Historic Places in Isle Royale National Park Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Lighthouses completed in 1855 Inclined towers