Au Sable Point Lighthouse
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| Photo by Raymond J. Malace. Courtesy mighican.org |
Part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the dramatic red brick lightkeeper's house and attached white cylinder of a tower sit atop picture-perfect red sandstone rocks. The lighthouse, finished in 1874 and enlarged in 1909, has been restored to its 1910 condition. Its lantern again houses the Third Order Fresnel lens, six feet tall. The functioning automated light, however, is on a separate tower outside the lighthouse.
From July 1 through Labor Day free tours are held every hour, Thursday through Sunday, if staffing is available. The tour guides, volunteer and professional, are well informed about lighthouse life and lore.
For an amazing view of the Grand Sable Dunes, visitors can climb the 87-foot tower, ten at a time. The dunes are most striking when the sun is low. Call (906) 494-2660 to check tour times, which are subject to change.
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| James Marvin Phelps Photography |
Climb down the rocks from the lighthouse (be prepared to scramble), go west a ways along the beach, and you'll come upon two shipwreck skeletons sticking out of the sand. The sand moves constantly, so in some years more of the wrecks is visible than in others. A third shipwreck is close to the Hurricane River Campground. Many ships were wrecked on the busy stretch of coast between Munising and Grand Marais. The light warned them to stay away from the shallow sandstone shelf.
Interpretive signs on the lighthouse grounds and along the access road inform visitors about the functions of various buildings in the lighthouse complex and what the National Park Service has done to restore it. Visit the Grand Marais Maritime Museum in town to learn more about area shipwrecks and lifesaving installations.
Take H-58 to the Hurricane River Campground. (That's 13 miles from Grand Marais or 39 miles from Munising.) It's a pretty 1 1/2-mile walk to the lighthouse from the lower campground over a flat, easy access road through a forest. You cannot drive to the lighthouse. Alternate route if you're agile: walk along the beach (follow the sign to the shipwrecks), enjoy the scenery and greater solitude, and climb up the bank to the lighthouse. No admission fee. Handicap accessible: no. Too sandy.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Grand Sable Bank & Dunes. Vast dunes seen from the trail here create a dramatic view, especially when the sun is low ... more
Harbor entrance, range lights, pier & beach. Fish from the long stone pier jutting far out into Lake Superior, protecting the harbor. Or walk the long beach and enjoy the range light, & 2 museums, one in the old Coast Guard station, draw people to Coast Guard Point ... more
The Marketplace. A showroom for a members of Grand Marais Cottage Industries. You'll find photographs, handknits, lamps, novelties, art glass, carvings ... more
Grand Marais Maritime Museum. In the former Coast Guard station the National Parks Service installed this spare museum with photos and a few artifacts ... more
Old Post Office Museum. The 1882 Grand Marais post office still has the old postal boxes and clerk's window up front and historical photos and items in back ... more
Light Keeper's House Museum. Built by the Coast Guard in 1908, This 1908 Coast Guard keeper's house houses a hands-on local museum strong on stories. ... more
Goewey’s Garage. Lee and Betty Goewey make very popular fish carvings as well as art glass windows ... more
Crystal Pine Cone. Beach stones become landscapes and maritime scenes, or animals and people. The Woropay family’s studio/gallery is in a cabin among pine trees ... more
Pickle Barrel Museum. A summer house in two giant barrels for the creator of the long-lived Teenie Weenie cartoons. Now saved from rot and open to the public with historical displays and period rooms circa 1930. ... more
The Campbell Street Gallery. A spiffy collection of many media in Grand Marais' oldest building ... more
Gitche Gumee Agate & History Museum. Agates, rockhounding, geology, commercial fishing, and the self-sufficient local lifestyle after the lumber company left – Karen Bryzs's heartfelt museum tells these stories ... more
Sable Falls. Take a walk through the woods to the top of this delightful waterfall. Go down a stairway to a rocky agate beach and wander east for awhile ... more
Grand Sable Visitor Center. A good place for information on the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, regional nature and history books, and a 2-mile trail through a shady beech-maple forest ... more
North Country Trail/Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Hike the trail connecting the lakeshore's prominent sights to experience them more fully than a drive-up-and-go-on view. Plan your hike so a shuttle bus can take you back ... more
Log Slide Overlook. Almost 300 feet above Lake Superior, there are splendid views to the Au Sable Lighthouse and the immense expanses of the Grand Sable Dunes. Exhibits show the scene when loggers rolled logs down for loading on ships ... more
Au Sable Point Lighthouse. A picture-perfect lighthouse on the rocks, a tower to climb on scheduled tours, shipwreck skeletons in the sand ... more
Twelvemile Beach & White Birch Trail. Walk the long beach or head inshore along a 2-mile nature trail through an unusual forest of old white birches ... more
Kingston Plains Burns. The best-known of the U.P.'s eerie stump fields or ghost forests created when forest fires across the cutover were so hot they burned off the soil's humus and the forest couldn't grow back. Pine resin preserved giant stumps. Some still remain ... more
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