North light, photo by R.J.E..
June in Ludington. More about the North Pier Light (a wintry view at that).
Don’t miss the Michigan June Calendar on Absolute Michigan. Lots of fun stuff to do when you’re not soaking up a Michigan sunset!
Check it out bigger and on the map. More from R.J.E. on Michigan in Pictures.
And yes, we have sunsets.
Big Sable Point Lighthouse (Ludington State Park, Ludington Michigan), photo by Michigan Nut.
I’ve featured Big Sable Point Lighthouse before on Michigan in Pictures, but most of you probably didn’t see that post. Besides, it was done on a day when the Great Lakes’ premier resource for lighthouse information, Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light, was down! Terry’s Big Sable Point Light Station page begins:
In its report to Congress in 1865, the Lighthouse Board presented the case that “the interests of commerce demand that Grand Point Au Sable be suitably lighted” Congress responded favorably on July of the following year with an appropriation of $35,000 on July 28 of the following year. The State of Michigan responded by providing the Federal Government with fee deed to nine hundred and thirty-three acres for the station later that year.
Construction began in early 1867 with the arrival of Lighthouse Board and Army Corps of Engineers workers, who immediately began the construction of a dock at which to unload the necessary supplies for the project. Next, a temporary cofferdam was constructed to keep waster from entering the foundation, which consisted of tightly fitted cut stone blocks beginning a depth of six feet below grade and extending three feet above.
On this sturdy foundation, the skilled masons began to raise the tower. Constructed of cream city brick, the walls were laid five feet thick at the foundation, tapering to a thickness of two feet thick immediately below the gallery. Within the tower, a circular inner wall, eight feet in diameter supported the cast iron spiral staircase. On its vertical climb, the stairway passed through three landing areas.
Read on for the history of the Big Sable Light and see many more Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.
See this photo bigger and in John’s jaw-dropping Michigan lighthouses slideshow. He says that it’s a two mile hike to see Big Sable, so bring a flashlight if you plan to see a sunset!
Ludington Michigan New Year’s Day Sunset, photo by ShaneWyatt.
Our January Event Calendar is posted on Absolute Michigan. Check it out for all kinds of January fun!
Shane took this photo as the sun was setting and the winds were whipping along at 40 MPH at the end of the first day of the 2011 in Ludington. Check it out bigger in his Michigan slideshow.
Thrill seekers, photo by R.J.E..
Today’s post is filed under do not try this at home. My daughter was a passenger in a scary car accident last night. Nobody was hurt but it’s important to remember that you always get a second chance until the time you don’t.
Check it out bigger and in RJE’s slideshow.
Winter Blues at the Ludington North Breakwater Light has more about the history of this Michigan lighthouse!
Big Sable Point – View From The Top, photo by pentax hammer (gary syrba)
This is the view from Big Sable Point Lighthouse near Ludington.
View it bigger in Gary’s awesome Summertime slideshow.
Oracles of Rebirth, photo by John.Dykstra.
Check this out bigger in John’s Lakes slideshow and I hope that a walk along one of Michigan’s fabulous beaches is not too far in your future! Need an idea of where to start? Here’s a map of 1182 public beaches in Michigan.
Wander many more Michigan beaches on Michigan in Pictures!
Deer at Ludington State Park, photo by R.J.E..
Taken at Ludington State Park.
See this bigger or in the slideshow from the Lovely Ludington group.
Many more park photos from Michigan in Pictures.
On a bone-chilling morning like today, it’s not too hard to put yourself in the probably none-too-warm shoes of Keeper Hans Hansen of the Big Sable Lighthouse, located at the wrong end of a nine mile walk from Ludington. Here’s his letter to Capt. C.E. Clark, USN, Lighthouse Inspector on September 19, 1887:
Please Sir, I wish to apply to you in regards to a change in location or in other words, if there is any chance for me to be transferred to some small Light. I have now served faithfully at this same Station for five long years lacking eight days, keeping the Light going every night the year around, and in them five years have been absent only three weeks. And this last year has been very hard on me on account I have had so many new men and each one I have to teach to care for the Light, and makes me feel very uneasy all hours of the night. The last man appointed is very quick and wants to learn. He is the best man that has been here for some time. He is a stranger to me. My children I should like very much to get them in school. Here is no school for miles. I prefer a small place where I can be alone with my family. I do not mind loosing [sic] Sixty dollars from my present salary. Would like best a place south from here but prefer best the west shore on Green Bay or would be glad to take some small place north of here. You would make us feel very happy. Please be so kind and do what you can.
You can get more stories from Lighthouses Short & Tall, learn about Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park and see tons more Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.
Check this out bigger in Tim’s Lake Michigan slideshow and stay warm people!
Big Sable Point Lighthouse, photo by photoshoparama.
Dan has a number of photos from Big Sable Point Lighthouse and you can see them bigger by checking out the slideshow.
Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light is down (I fervently hope temporarily) so I can’t get the crunchy details on from his Big Sable Lighthouse page. Wikipedia’s Big Sable Point Lighthouse entry says that the historical marker reads:
Called Grande Pointe au Sable by French explorers and traders, Big Sable Point was an important landmark for mariners traveling a treacherous stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline between Big Sable Point and present-day Ludington. In 1855, twelve ships wrecked in that area. Commerce linked to the burgeoning lumber industry required that Big Sable Point be suitably lighted. State senator Charles Mears pressed the legislature to ask the federal government for a light station at Big Sable. In 1866 the U.S. Congress appropriated $35,000 for a lighthouse, which was built the following year. As the lumbering era waned, steamers carrying coal, foodstuffs, and tourists continued to rely on the lighthouse for navigation.
The Big Sable Point Lighthouse is one of the few Michigan lights with a tower reaching 100 feet. Completed in 1867, Big Sable’s tower measures 112 feet high. In 1902 the deteriorating brick tower was encased in steel. The keeper’s dwelling, which once housed a single family, has been enlarged over the years, resulting in the present three-family residence. Indoor plumbing and heating and a diesel electric generator were added in 1949. In 1953, power lines were extended to the Point. In 1968 the tradition of light-keeping begun in 1867 by Alonzo A. Hyde and his wife, Laura, ended when the station was fully automated. Big Sable Point Light Station is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The light is located in Ludington State Park (Wikipedia) and is open for tours May – October (see bigsablelighthouse.org for details). The Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association maintains several lighthouses on the east coast of Lake Michigan: Big Sable, Ludington North Breakwater, and Little Sable.
For more views of the lighthouse and the area, check out Big Sable Point on Flickr, some Big Sable Point Lighthouse panoramas (go to full screen!) and these rocking aerial photos of Big Sable Lighthouse at marinas.com – be sure to use the zoom!
You can check out Big Sable Point Lighthouse on the Absolute Michigan map (satellite view).
The Badger — Steaming out of the harbor, photo by Diann*.
Diann says that the SS Badger leaving its home port of Ludington en route to Manitowoc, Wisconsin was the grand finale of a great Labor Day weekend.
It’s one of a number of cool shots in her Trains, Tugs, and Ferries set (slideshow) and she has posted it in big, beautiful, background-class glory!
More about this Lake Michigan car ferry at the SS Badger web site and from Michigan in Pictures.
Michigan in Pictures 