Copper Harbor Light

Copper Harbor Light

Copper Harbor Lighthouse
Location	9879 Woodland Rd. (Grant Township), Copper Harbor, Michigan
Coordinates	47°28′28.1″N 87°51′36.9″W / 47.474472°N 87.860250°W / 47.474472; -87.860250Coordinates: 47°28′28.1″N 87°51′36.9″W / 47.474472°N 87.860250°W / 47.474472; -87.860250
Year first constructed	1848
Year first lit	1866
Automated	1919
Tower shape	square
Markings / pattern	White skeleton tower w/black lantern
Height	Tower - 42 feet (13 m)
Focal height	90 feet (27 m)
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens	12-inch (300 mm)
Range	21 nautical miles (39 km; 24 mi); 14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi) adjacent tower[1]
Characteristic	Fl Green, 6 sec
ARLHS number	USA-193
USCG number	7-15175 [2] [1] [3]
Copper Harbor Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site
Built	1866
NRHP Reference #	12000305[4]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 7, 2012
Designated MSHS	February 22, 1974

The Copper Harbor Light is a lighthouse located in the harbor of Copper Harbor, Michigan USA on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan inside Fort Wilkins Historic State Park. It is a Michigan State Historic Site and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The Copper Harbor Lighthouse was built on the tip of the eastern point of land that hugs the harbor. The lighthouse aided in the transport of copper from the Upper Peninsula. Ships carrying immigrants, supplies, and equipment increased dramatically.^[5]

Funding to build the light was approved in 1847. The first tower was constructed in 1848 and resembled that at Old Presque Isle Lighthouse.^[5] The Stone Masonry was dismantled, and the stones used as the foundation for the replacement lighthouse built in 1866.^[6]

The current lightkeeper's dwelling house is a survivor of the first light tower. An improved lighthouse, which also survives, was raised in 1866 three years before the installation of the Copper Harbor Front Range Light and the Copper Harbor Rear Range Light. The steel light tower in current use went into service in 1933.

The station was established in 1849. A Fresnel lens was installed in 1856. The current tower was first lit in 1866. It is no longer operational. It was automated in 1919, and deactivated in 1933. The foundation materials are dressed stone and timer, and the building was made of brick. The tower is square. The color is "natural with black lantern." A keeper's house is attached.^[2]

In 1933, the light itself was removed from the lighthouse, and placed on the adjacent 62-foot (19 m) tall white skeleton tower,^[3] which has a focal plane of 90 feet (27 m). It has a range of 14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi).^[1]

On February 22, 1974, the lighthouse was designated a Michigan State Historic Site.^[7] On June 7, 2012, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[4]

Present

The Copper Harbor Lighthouse is currently (as of 2006) operated as a unit of the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries. It is open to the public in summer months and features a museum about the lighthouse and Lake Superior maritime history. Other buildings on the location include a detached 1849 dwelling house, which functioned as a storage and oil house.^[8]

A lighthouse tour is available, complete with a ride on a wooden double-ender launch.^[9] The boat leaves from the Municipal pier in Copper Harbor, and takes about 15 minutes to reach the point.^[10]

See also

Original Lighthouse, U.S. Coast Guard Archive Photo

• Lighthouses in the United States

References

External links

The Copper Harbor Light

• Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse Friends, Copper Harbor Light.
• Aerial photos, Copper Harbor Light, marinas.com.
• Copper Harbor Lighthouse Tours.
• Copper Harbor Lighthouse, information from Michigan Historical Center, including a virtual tour.
• Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses. Detroit News.
• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
• National Park Service Maritime History, Inventory of Historic Lights, Copper Harbor Light.
• Photographs, Directions, Waypoints and History from Lighthouse Central.
• Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Copper Harbor Light.
• Wobser, David, Boatnerd.com Copper Harbor Light.

Lighthouses in Michigan
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer South Manitou Island Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range DeTour Reef Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan