Sturgeon Point Light Station
The light in winter.
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| Location | Haynes Township, Alcona County, Michigan, USA |
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| Coordinates | 44°42′45.7″N 83°16′21.8″W / 44.712694°N 83.272722°WCoordinates: 44°42′45.7″N 83°16′21.8″W / 44.712694°N 83.272722°W |
| Year first constructed | 1869 |
| Year first lit | 1869 |
| Automated | 1939 |
| Foundation | Limestone |
| Construction | Brick |
| Tower shape | Frustum of a cone |
| Markings / pattern | white daymark with red trim |
| Height | 71 feet (22 m) |
| Focal height | 69 feet (21 m) |
| Original lens | Sixth order Fresnel Lens |
| Current lens | 3½-order Fresnel Lens |
| Range | 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) |
| Characteristic | flash every six seconds |
| ARLHS number | USA-823 |
| USCG number |
7-11345 |
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Sturgeon Point Light Station
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| Nearest city | Harrisville, Michigan |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1869 |
| Architect | United States Lighthouse Board |
| Architectural style | Cape Cod style |
| MPS | U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR |
| NRHP Reference # | 84001370 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 19, 1984 |
| Designated MSHS | February 18, 1982 |
7-11345
The Sturgeon Point Light Station is a lighthouse on Lake Huron in Haynes Township, Alcona County, northeastern lower Michigan. Established to ward mariners off a reef that extends 1.5 miles (2.4 km) lakeward from Sturgeon Point, it is today regarded as a historic example of a Cape Cod style Great Lakes lighthouse.
The light station was built in 1869 by the United States Lighthouse Board. The Board was in the midst of a lighthouse building boom on the Great Lakes due to increased maritime traffic, and in response to a large number of lost ships and men: Congress approved 70 lights on the western Great Lakes in thirty years: 28 in the 1850s, and 21 in each of the following decades. The location is roughly halfway between Alpena's Thunder Bay Island and the northern entry to Saginaw Bay. Importantly, this point sits atop a formidable reef that is an imminent hazard to navigation. Moreover, the area north of Sturgeon Point and south of Alcona, Michigan is a bay that can provide shelter from northerly and southerly winds and waves. Historically, this area is locally known as "Sanctuary Bay," which is in distinct contrast to "Misery Bay", the area to the north, between Alpena and Thunder Bay Island. The Lighthouse Board further recognized that being able to navigate close to (but not over) the reef and the point would aid transport into and out of Saginaw Bay.
It is made of brick masonry on an ashlar limestone foundation. The tower stands 70 feet 9 inches (21.56 m) in height, with a diameter of 16 feet (4.9 m) at the base. The focal plane is listed by the Coast Guard at 69 feet (21 m), which would be the height from the "mean high water mark," That figure is important, in that it could be used by mariners to chart their location, using a method of triangulation to give them the distance to the light. The adjoining, two-story Lighthouse keeper’s quarters was designed in the Cape Cod style and built of the same materials. At the time, the Board was often using this architectural motif. In fact, Poverty Island Light, built in 1874, is considered to be a "sibling" as it is a direct copy of Sturgeon Point.
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Wikipedia