Plum Island Range Lights

Plum Island Range Lights

Rear range light with house
Location	Plum Island, Wisconsin
Coordinates	45°18′28″N 86°57′29″W / 45.30778°N 86.95806°W / 45.30778; -86.95806Coordinates: 45°18′28″N 86°57′29″W / 45.30778°N 86.95806°W / 45.30778; -86.95806 Rear range light
Year first lit	1897
Automated	c. 1969
Foundation	Concrete
Construction	Iron
Tower shape	Skeletal
Markings / pattern	KRW
Height	65 feet (20 m)
Focal height	80 feet (24 m)
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens, still in place
Range	14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi)
Characteristic	Fixed Red
ARLHS number	USA-608
USCG number	7-21310
Plum Island Range Rear Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Gills Rock, Wisconsin
Area	0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
MPS	U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
NRHP Reference #	84003659
Added to NRHP	July 19, 1984

7-21310

The Plum Island Range Lights are a pair of range lights located on Plum Island in Door County, Wisconsin. They were part of the Plum Island United States Life-Saving Station. Plum Island was transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 and became part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The life-saving station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Plum Island is closed to the public to protect ground nesting migratory birds.

Plum Island is an island at the western shore of Lake Michigan in the southern part of the town of Washington in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. There have been hundreds of shipwrecks off the island's shores.

The front and rear range lights were part of the United States Life-Saving Station that was established on Plum Island in 1896. The lights were originally lit in 1897 and are 1,650 feet (500 m) apart, aligned on a 330° bearing line to guide boats safely into the Porte des Morts Passage. The Plum Island front range light was originally identical to the front range light of the Baileys Harbor Range Lights, but was replaced by a modern skeletal light in 1964. The rear range light is the original tower and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, as the Plum Island Range Rear Light, reference number #84003659. The front light is directional, aligned on 330.5° true. The rear light is omnidirectional and still has its original 4th order Fresnel lens.

Nearby Pilot Island and Plum Island were two of four Wisconsin properties turned over by the U.S. Coast Guard to the United States Bureau of Land Management. Large expenses for toxic waste-site environmental remediation were an impediment to transfers and restoration of the Plum Island site. Both islands were finally transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 and became part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Significant numbers of nesting colonial birds are found on the islands.