Petite Pointe Au Sable Lighthouse / Petite Pointe Au Sable Lighthouse

Here the Petite Pointe Au Sable (little point of sand) juts into Lake Michigan. Increased shipping on the lake started after the Civil War, largely due to the expanding lumber industry. Consequently, this isolated point became the site of several shipwrecks, including the April 1871 beaching of the schooner Pride. To aid navigation around the hazard, the United States Congress approved funding in 1872 for the erection of a lighthouse. The location´s inaccessibility by road delayed completion of the lighthouse until 1874. A house was constructed to board the keeper, his assistant, and their families. The first keeper was James Davenport of Mackinac Island. This light uses a third-order Fresnel lens positioned 108 feet above the lake. The tower was painted white in 1899 to make it more visible to ships during the day and was restored to its original brick in the 1970s. In 1902, the first overland route to the lighthouse was cut from Mears. The lighthouse was renamed Little Sable Point Light Station in 1910. In 1915, the original lard-burning wick lamp was replaced by a brighter, incandescent oil vapor, kerosene-burning lamp. Visible for nineteen miles, the light flashed every thirty seconds. The lamp was electrified and automated in 1954. After automation, a keeper was no longer needed and the house and ancillary buildings were razed.