Old Presque Isle Lighthouse

Presque Isle Harbor is one of Lake Huron’s safest harbors of refuge. Its name comes from this peninsula which, translating from the French, is “almost an island.” Indians and Frenchmen portaged across the peninsula to avoid several miles of open lake. When vessels came to the harbor in increasing numbers, Congress in 1838 appropriated five thousand dollars for a lighthouse. Jeremiah Moors of Detroit in 1840 completed this lighthouse, which today is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on the Great Lakes. Pat Garrity, the last keeper of this lighthouse, was appointed by President Lincoln. Four of Garrity’s children, raised in the keeper’s house, became lighthouse keepers. In 1870 a new lighthouse to the north was completed along with two range lights for the entrance to the harbor.