Guiding lights

The Beaver Island Lighthouses

THE BEAVERHEAD LIGHTHOUSE

In the middle of the 19th century, navigation on Lake Michigan was steadily increasing. In Washington, it was decided that a lighthouse was needed in the Beaver Island Archipelago to aid the growing number of ships that were sailing from Chicago to the Straits of Mackinac.

President Millard Fillmore laid aside a tract of land on Beaver Island comprising of 158.2 acres on November 21, 1850. Located at the southern end of Beaver Island, Beaver Head marked the west side of the approach most used by vessels passing from Lake Michigan into the Straits of Mackinac. Only after the building was completed did officials find it had been erected two miles east of the federally designated land. It took a presidential order in 1954 for President Dwight Eisenhower to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile the Beaver Head Lighthouse was a working “light” from 1852 until it was decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1962, when a radio beacon was constructed at the site. Many lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked at the site, some Island born, some from as far away as Texas.

Between 1963 and 1970, a private owner used the Keepers Dwelling as a hunting club. The property was vacant until 1975 when Charlevoix Public Schools purchased the site for $1. Charlevoix Public Schools used the facility as an Environmental Education Center until 2016. In 2019, the Lighthouse property was purchased by Charlevoix County & Networks Northwest.

The Beaver Head Lighthouse has undergone restoration over the years, and the current structure is still under renovation. The Lighthouse tower is open to the public, and many have climbed its winding stairway to view the northern waters of Lake Michigan, where this Lighthouse served such a critical role in the safety of shipping for over a century.

RESTORATION

We are finally ready to move forward on restoration and preservation of the Beaver Head Lighthouse! Please join us as we begin this exciting project; you can make a difference by donating today. The Beaver Island Historical Society, in collaboration with Charlevoix County and Networks Northwest, is fundraising to bring a group of historical preservation experts to the island in the summer of 2022. Eastern Michigan University's Historic Preservation Graduate Field School will assess the preservation needs of our Beaver Head Lighthouse, the third oldest on the Great Lakes.

Our vision is for the lighthouse to be restored and sustainable. We have many ideas for public access including a museum in the Keeper's House attached to the lighthouse.

lighthouse colors
South End Lighthouse and Keepers Q AC 73067256_2229375913835157_8044094297932300288_o

Eastern Michigan University’s Historic Preservation Program (EMU HPP) conducts an annual one-week, hands-on field school with about twenty students, two faculty members, and a field school managers assist in the preservation and/or restoration of an historic structure or its contents. The Field School introduces a variety of preservation and restoration techniques such as masonry, plastering, painting, cataloguing of artefacts, documenting the historic structure, and much more.

For more information about the program visit: https://www.emich.edu/geography-geology/programs/historic-preservation/glance.php

The Beaver Island Historical Society will host Eastern Michigan University’s Historic Preservation Program May 20-28, 2023.

For more information please view the EMU newsletter and 2022 Report.

MORE LIGHTHOUSES

Plan your visit

26275 Main Street
Beaver Island, MI 49782

Phone: (231) 448-2254

To plan your trip to Beaver Island, visit: www.beaverisland.org