Fort Gratiot Light House #1
by LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom
Title
Fort Gratiot Light House #1
Artist
LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
Fort Gratiot, named after General Charles Gratiot, the engineer in charge of its construction, was established in 1814 to guard the juncture of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River.
The Fort Gratiot Lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in Michigan and the second oldest on the Great Lakes. The first lighthouse in this area was built in 1825 and was located approximately where the first Blue Water Bridge stands. Due to poor construction and a storm, it collapsed in 1828. In 1829, a new lighthouse was built north of the military fort by Lucius Lyon, who later became one of Michigan's first U.S. Senators. The new location made it easier for ships to spot as they entered the rapids at the head of the St. Clair River.
Originally seventy-four feet high, the white painted brick tower was extended to its present height of eighty-six feet in the early 1860s.
The first official lighthouse keeper, Colonel George McDougall, Jr., served from 1825 until his death in 1842.
The green flashing light that was automated in 1933 may be seen for seventeen miles. The two-story brick lighthouse keeper's house, with its hipped gable roof and pointed gothic porch, was built in 1874.
Today, a Coast Guard station and the lighthouse watch over one of the busiest waterways in the world.
Uploaded
August 31st, 2013
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Viewed 735 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/18/2024 at 10:45 AM
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LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom
Today we learned of the Storm that produced a 40 ft wave that hit the light house in 1913, 100 years ago. The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow", the "Freshwater Fury", or the "White Hurricane", was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario from November 7 through November 10, 1913. The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes,the Great Lakes Storm killed more than 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others.