Wintertime at Aux Barques Lighthouse, Port Hope, Michigan, photo by Michigan Nut.

The page on the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse at Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light says that about 75 miles north of Fort Gratiot light and two miles from shore in Lake Huron, there’s a shallow reef with only two feet of water above it. It was right where northbound vessels made their swing into Saginaw Bay, and Michigan State Representative Isaac Crary entered a motion in Congress in 1838 to establish a lighthouse on the shore to warn mariners and mark the turning point:

Congress responded with an appropriation of $5,000 for the Light’s construction on July 7, 1838.

While conducting his annual inspection of lighthouses on the lakes and selecting sites for proposed new stations a month later, Lieutenant James T Homans arrived in the area to select the site for the new station. In his report to the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury for the year, Homans reported that he selected “the most westerly of the two points, known as Point-aux-Barques, near the entrance to Saganaw Bay (sic), for the light there, because it is sooner seen by vessels approaching from the northward and westward, by which it will be most used; also, as being near a shoal, dangerous to the navigation of its vicinity.” Homans went on to report that “There is stone in considerable quantity near this location, which can be used in constructing the buildings. The land, I presume, belongs to the Government, or can be had for a moderate price, there being no settlements within several miles, and the soil very barren.”

Government apparently moved no faster then than now, and it wasn’t until 1847 that the structure was completed. There’s much more about the lighthouse and the Port Hope Lifesaving Station including photos if you read on at Seeing the Light.

The Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Society has the text of the contract to construct the light along with a few photos and more information including the keeper logs from 1923.

John took this photo at the end of January. You can see it bigger and see more from the area on his map. Don’t miss the Michigan Nut Photography Facebook page either!