Au Sable Point Lighthouse
Location: Grand Marais,Michigan
Established: 1874
Status: Active
Type: Conical brick tower and attached brick dwelling
Access: Car/then hike by foot
Au Sable Point lighthouse was built to help navigate sailors in their dreaded journey, along the eighty miles of dark shoreline that stretch from Grand Island Lighthouse to the famed light on Whitefish Point.
An eighty-seven foot brick tower was built on a rise, placing the light about 107 feet above the lake service. The attatched, two-story brick keeper's dwelling was spacious, but also one of the most remote mainland stations in America. The nearest town Grand Marais, was more than a dozen miles away and there was no road. Lighthouse keepers either hiked in or came by boat.
In 1958, the Coast Guard automated the light turning the property and buildings over to the National park Service for inclusion in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The light remains active, but it's old Fresnel lens has been removed and placed in the Nautical and Maritime Museum in Grand Marais.
DIRECTIONS:
Just as its keepers once did, visitors must walk to the lighthouse. It is located in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula. From Highway 28 take Highway 77 north about 25 miles to Grand Marais. The lighthouse is a distance from the park headquarters in Grand Marais.
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