Lighthouse Articles

Islands with lighthouses.

Outer Island

Outer Island

About the IslandOuter Island’s name is descriptive in that it simply is the island farthest away from the mainland - its sandspit is 24 miles out from Bayfield and 22 miles from Buffalo Bay and Little Sand Bay. The island claims perhaps the largest well-developed sandspit among the islands. The main trail through the center island has become exceedingly difficult to to follow. A crossing trail leads to an old logging camp.The Outer Island Lighthouse was built in 1874, a 90 foot tall brick tower painted white and located at the northern tip of the island. Excerpts from Apostle Islands Water...

Long Island

Long Island

About the IslandWhile “island” remains part of its name, sometime in the late fall of 1976, sand deposited by the waves and wind of a geographically changing Lake Superior joined the island to Chequamegon Point, part of the Bad River Reservation. Long Island is made entirely of sand and rises only about 15 feet above the level of Lake Superior.Two automatic lighthouses now operate on Long Island. The old concrete path between the two lighthouses has become mostly buried under the sand but a mile-long wooden boardwalk makes for an easy hike between the two lights. Excerpts from Apostle...

Raspberry Island

Raspberry Island

About the IslandRaspberry Island is one of the smaller islands in the archipelago, only about 1 mile long from southwest to northeast and less than 0.5 mile wide. The history of Raspberry Island centers on the lighthouse, which served to guide steamships through the West Channel between the lighthouse and the mainland. It was built at the insistence of Bayfield’s founder and influential St. Paul politician, Henry Rice.There are no designated campsites on the heavily used Raspberry Island, but primitive camping is limited to areas outside of the lighthouse grounds and sandspit area....

Sand Island

Sand Island

About the IslandSand Island is the most westerly usable island in the National Lakeshore. The southwest corner of Sand Island is a bit over 2 miles northwest of the mainland launch site of Little Sand Bay. The Sand Island Lighthouse is perhaps the most beautiful in the Apostles. The keeper’s house and the tower for the light were built in 1881 using local sandstone.The population of Sand Island, mostly Norwegian immigrant farmers and fishermen, reached one hundred permanent residents in 1918. The Sand Island shoreline has it all - rock shelves, sea caves and long beaches. There are more than...

Devils Island

Devils Island

About the IslandThe north tip of Devils Island is the northernmost point in Wisconsin and the temperature and wind conditions at the lighthouse site reflect the conditions of the open lake. Devils Island’s name probably originates from the ungodly compression noises produced when the rollers off the lake trap air in the cavities in the sea caves.On September 30, 1901, a third-order Fresnel lens, manufactured in France, was placed into service in the Devils Island lighthouse. Now, a solar-powered light flashes red every ten seconds, 100 feet above the lake. Excerpts from Apostle Islands Water...

Michigan Island

Michigan Island

About the IslandMichigan Island stands alone as the southeasterly sentinel of the Apostle Islands. It is about 3 miles east-northeast of Madeline and just under 3 miles southeast of Presque Isle Point on Stockton Island. There are two lighthouses on the southeasterly shore about a mile from the sandpit. Michigan Island’s first lighthouse (and the first in the Apostle Islands) was built in 1856. The second lighthouse, a taller steel structure, was built in Pennsylvania in 1880 and moved to Michigan Island in 1929. The light still flashes at 6 second intervals, 170 feet above the surface of...