Presque Isle Light Station

About this property

The New Presque Isle Light was built in 1870, at Presque Isle, Michigan, east of Grand Lake, and sits on the namesake peninsula. It is one of 149 lighthouses in Michigan, more than any other state. Because of changing shoreline particularly, or alternatively deterioration of the original building, it is not uncommon for a replacement lighthouse to be placed in the vicinity of an earlier light, in this case, the Old Presque Isle Light. It was U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Major Orlando M. Poe who designed the plans for the new lighthouse, and proposed the total construction cost to be 21,000 dollars more than what was previously appropriated; the amount proposed was relatively modest, given the then astounding figures he would expend on building the Spectacle Reef Light. (Poe was also the chief engineer on General William Tecumseh Sherman's famous “March to the Sea” during the Civil War.) When he received enough funding, he gathered construction materials, obtained bids for labor, and organized a working crew. The tender Warrington brought the working party and materials to the harbor in the summer of 1870. A lighthouse tender was a smaller ship that would take care of its supported lights. They would come to service the station, keeping it stocked with food, supplies, and construction materials. Work was completed in early summer of 1871. The base was 10 ft (3.0 m) below the ground, with the base of nineteen feet tapering off to 12 ft (3.7 m) right below the gallery. The new tower was built with double walls. Though the winds and the waves here at Presque Isle would not be nearly as rough as they could be at more remote locations like Stannard's Rock, the walls would still stand strong against any harsh weather Lake Huron could deliver. A spiral cast iron stairway led the Lighthouse keeper 138 steps to the top gallery. This plan was so unique and elegant that it inspired several other lighthouses around the Great Lakes to copy its design. (Outer Island and Au Sable Point on Lake Superior, and Big Sable Point Light and Grosse Point Light on Lake Michigan were recreated using a similar structure.) A sixteen-foot covered passageway connected the tower to the two story keeper's dwelling, allowing for extra protection when the keepers would go to the tower in harsh weather. A full cellar was built under the house, and here the keepers would store personal items as well as oil for the lamp. A third-order Fresnel lens, which stood six feet in height—manufactured by Henry LePaute Cie. of Paris—was used for the lamp. This lens was invented by a Frenchman of the same name, and it quickly became popular in towers across the country. Its strong, efficient lens was able to cast light much farther than previous techniques: open flame, light fueled by whale oil, or small wicks. The Fresnel lens system was a great improvement over previous lenses in lighthouses, but it was not until the 1850s that it was commonly adopted in the United States and on the Great Lakes. The lens allowed only a small amount of light to “escape” – that is, disperse and not shine directly to the water and incoming vessels. Fresnel was able to do this by creating various concentric rings surrounding the lens that would bend the light, ultimately focusing it in one direction. A very intense light could thus be seen by boats on the Lakes several miles away. This advantage would be very valuable for the lake freighters or passenger steamers lost in a storm or dangerous weather that is prone to occur on the Lakes.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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