The Wisconsin Point 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

Superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places *Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lake ...

, on

Wisconsin Point Wisconsin Point is a peninsula off the shore of Superior in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. in length, it is in the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. The point is the world's largest freshwater bay mouth sand bar. The ...

, in

Douglas County, Wisconsin Douglas County is a county located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,295 Its county seat is Superior. Douglas County is included in the Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistica ...

, United States. The light and attached

fog horn 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 ...

building sits within a long

sand bar 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 ...

– stretching between the ports of Duluth and Superior. This sand bar makes the Duluth–Superior Harbor one of the safest harbors in the world. It is "reputedly the longest freshwater sand bar in the world" and is split by this opening near its center, where the lighthouse is located. The Minnesota side of the opening is known as "Minnesota Point" (Park Point) and the Wisconsin side is known as "

." It was added to 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 2007. It stands erect at 70 ft. tall.

History

The original

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

was manufactured by Sautter, Lemonnier, and Company of Paris in 1890. It was replaced with a

DCB-224 An aerobeacon is a light assembly used to create a fixed or flashing signal visible over long distances. It consists of a high intensity electric lamp mounted with a focusing device in a cylindrical housing, which usually is rotated on a vertical ...

aero beacon An aerodrome beacon or rotating beacon or aeronautical beacon is a beacon installed at an airport or aerodrome to indicate its location to aircraft pilots at night. An aerodrome beacon is mounted on top of a towering structure, often a control ...

manufactured by the

Carlisle & Finch Carlisle & Finch is a manufacturer of nautical equipment founded in 1893 or 1894 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where, , it still has its headquarters. The company's main products through its entire history have been searchlights, mostly for marine applic ...

Company. It is an active navigational aid and is known as the South Breakwater Light by the

United States 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, mult ...

in the Volume VII light list and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

. It is located on the southern Superior Harbor entry breakwall. The Saint Louis River, which rises in Minnesota, becomes the Saint Louis Bay, then flows into

Superior Bay Superior Bay is a narrow inlet of Lake Superior along the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is long and wide. A small strait connects it to the Saint Louis Bay to the west, into which the Saint Louis River empties. Superior Bay is located be ...

and exits into

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 ...

via the ship canals, at each end of (Park Point)

Minnesota Point Minnesota Point, also known as the Park Point neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota, United States; is a long, narrow sand spit that extends out from the Canal Park tourist recreation-oriented district of the city of Duluth. The Point separates Lak ...

. In July 2019, the lighthouse superstructure was put up for sale in an online auction by the U.S. GSA. The breakwater upon which it sits and the navigational aid housed within would remain U.S. Government property after the sale.

References

External links

Aerial photos of Wisconsin Point, South Breakwater Light, Marina.com.
*
Lighthouse friends, Wisconsin Point Light articleSatellite view, Superior Entry South Breakwater (Wisconsin Point) Light, by Google.com.
* * {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1913 Buildings and structures in Douglas County, Wisconsin Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Douglas County, Wisconsin Superior, Wisconsin 1913 establishments in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Douglas County, Wisconsin

History

References

Further reading

External links