Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum & Lighthouse,...Whitefish Point Michigan!

http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/

History

Construction on the first light began in 1847, and the lighthouse was said to resemble that at Old Presque Isle Light.
First lit in 1849, it was one of the first lighthouses on the shores of Lake Superior and is also the oldest active light on the lake. The original structure was outfitted with Lewis lamps, which were thereafter upgraded to a Fourth Order Fresnel lens.
The current structure, while modern looking, is a Civil War relic. Built in 1861, the iron skeletal steel framework was designed to relieve stress caused by high winds. A similar design is used at Manitou Island light in Lake Superior. It was equipped with a Third Order Fresnel lens.


The DCB-224 Carlisle & Finch aerobeacon in operation at Whitefish Point on November 3, 2007.


The light-emitting diode lantern installed at Whitefish Point in August 2011.
In 1968, the light was replaced with a DCB-224 aero beacon manufactured by the Carlisle & Finch Company. According to Volume 7 of the U.S. Coast Guard light list, it was visible for a distance of 26 nautical miles (48 km) in clear weather conditions, and had two unevenly spaced eclipses, and two flashes within every 20 second period. Putting aside questions of nostalgia, aesthetics, or appreciation for the engineering of a bygone era (as exemplified by the Fresnel lens), this iteration of lighthouse illumination was itself incredibly effective, and an endangered remnant of another bygone era.
The station was automated in 1971.
In 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners reported reduced intensity of the Whitefish Point light from June 7, 2011 until August 16, 2011 when the DCB-224 Series Carlisle & Finch aerobeacon lens was changed to a light-emitting diode (LED) lantern with a reduced range of 15 nautical miles (28 km) as permitted by Coast Guard rules and regulations adopted in 2003 for private aids to navigation. The aerobeacon lens is stored in a building on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum complex for possible future public display.
The lighthouse is home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which has many shipwreck artifacts, including artifacts from shipwrecks in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald's bell which was recovered from the wreck in 1995. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is open for during the tourist season from 10 am to 6 pm, every day through October 31. The organization that operates the museum got 80.079% of its funding from the public in the year 2010.
The light is considered to iconic, and has been the subject of memorabilia. An official Michigan Historical Marker was erected in 1974. It is Registered Site L0272. The marker notes:
This light, the oldest on Lake Superior, began operating in 1849, though the present tower was constructed later. An early stopping place for Indians, Voyageurs, Coureur des bois and Jesuit missionaries, the point marks the course change for ore boats and other ships navigating this treacherous coastline to and from St. Mary's Canal. Since 1971 the light, fog signal, and radio beacon have been automated and controlled from Sault Ste. Marie.
The keepers were: 1848--1851: James B. Van Renselaer 1851--1853: Amos Stiles 1853--1856: William C. Crampton 1856--1859: Belloni McGulpin 1859--1861: Charles Garland 1861--1864: Joseph Kemp 1864--1868: Thomas Stafford 1868--1874: Edward Ashman 1874--1882: Charles J. Linke 1882--1883: Edward Chambers 1883--1903: Charles Kimball 1903--1931: Robert Carlson
Whitefish Point is on the Lake Superior coastline known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes". The numerous shipwrecks of Whitefish Bay—including those of the Comet, John B. Cowle, Drake, Samuel Mather, Miztec, Myron, Niagara, John M. Osborn, Sagamore, Superior City, and Vienna—are protected for future generations of sports divers by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.
The site is a venue for remembrance of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, and extending back to the loss in 1816 of "the very first ship known to sail on Superior, the sixty-foot trading vessel Invincible," which upended in gale force winds and towering waves near there. "Every loss was tragic."
There are critics that claim that the stewardship of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society over this lighthouse caused it to be "overdeveloped." Michigan Audubon Society filed a lawsuit that accused the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society of overdeveloping Whitefish Point and United States Fish & Wildlife Service of not protecting the site.The lawsuit was settled in 2002 when the parties agreed to govern the site with a management plan.