Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse is your only choice

Posted on by farlane

Seul Choix Lighthouse, MI

Seul Choix Lighthouse, MI, photo by Wrong Main

We’ve covered the Haunting of Seul Choix Lighthouse on Michigan in Pictures. Dave Wobster has an article on Seul Choix Light at Boatnerd.com. He writes that Seul Choix (“only choice” as the only safe harbor in the area) was popular with Native Americans as early as the 1600s due to the abundant  whitefish and lake trout that were waiting to be caught in Lake Michigan. A fishing village was established in the  mid 1800s and a trading post around 1850.

The early navigation aids along the northern Lake Michigan coast were the lighthouses at St. Helena Island (1872) and Peninsula Point (1866). This left a 100-mile gap of dark shoreline with Seul Choix Bay located near the middle. Efforts were soon started to have a lighthouse constructed on Seul Choix Point. The efforts were successful in 1886 when Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a light tower and fog signal on the point. Another $8,000 was added before the project was completed. Various complications and the rebuilding of the original tower delayed completion of the station.The light was first shown in August, 1892, but the complex was not completed until 1895 with the finishing of the fog signal building. The complex consisted of the present conical 78-foot tower and attached 2-story keeper’s dwelling, a steam fog signal building, stable, boathouse, two oil storage buildings, a brick privy, and boat dock and tramway to the fog signal building.

The keeper’s dwelling was expanded in 1925 with a lean-to addition to the west side. The interior living space was divided with a wall to provide equal space for an additional family. The wall has since been removed, but the building still contains two kitchen areas. Particular attention should be paid to the unique rounded gables on the east end of the dwelling. While they are reminiscent of a sailing schooner stern, history does not provide a reason for this detail.

The 78-foot high white conical tower is the typical elaborate “Poe-Style” named after General Orlando M. Poe who provided the original design. The Poe-style light towers are easily recognized by the ornate brackets which support the gallery around the lantern room and the four windows below the gallery which have semi-circular stone arch head pieces.

Read on for more including some photos of Seul Choix details at Boatnerd.com. The Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse is maintained by the Gulliver Historical Society and you can get a lot more info (and a snippet of a cool song that plays when you load) at their site.

Bill took this shot in 1997 with Plustek OpticFilm 7600. He writes that Seul Choix is located on the north shore of Lake Michigan a little east of Manistique. View his photo background big and see more in his great Lighthouses slideshow.

Many (many) more Michigan lighthouses at Michigan in Pictures!

The Only Choice: Seul Choix

Posted on by farlane

Boulder Splash - Seul Choix Point (Gulliver, MI)

Boulder Splash – Seul Choix Point (Gulliver, MI), photo by Aaron C. Jors

Wikipedia’s entry for Seul Choix Light begins:

This location is the only harbor of refuge in a long and dangerous stretch of coast; the translation of the French name is “only choice” so it is clear that it was used as a refuge by the early French traders in this area. Local references state that the correct pronunciation is “Sis-shwa”, assumed to be the common name used by both the French Voyageurs and the Native Americans with whom they traded furs.

In the 1880s, there was increased maritime traffic between the harbors on Lake Michigan’s western shore and Green Bay on the one hand, and the Straits of Mackinac on the other. Although the St. Helena Island Light marked the western entry into the Straits, and Poverty Island Light lighted the entrance to the Bays de Noc, there were no lighthouses to aid mariners navigating a dark 100-mile (160 km) stretch of coastline on the southern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The navigation season along this shoreline often began and ended with treacherous storms. Waves would build as they traversed the lake, making shelter a matter of life and death. Thus, mariners would seek shelter on the leeward side of points protruding into the lake along this stretch of unlighted shore.

You can read on for more and also check out The Haunting of Seul Choix Point Lighthouse on Michigan in Pictures for more about this lonely locale.

Check out Aaron’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan slideshow.