Super-fantastic Journeys

Mackinac Point sits on the southern side of the Mackinac Straights which is where boats pass though a passage connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  The Mackinac Point lighthouse is also referred to as the "Castle of the Straits" because of the construction of the keeper's house looking like the top of a Castle. Construction of the Mackinac Point lighthouse started in 1889 but funding was limited to creating a steam run fog horn.  The McGulpin Point Light was located to the west of this site but was not as visible as it needed to be to protect boats trying to navigate through the straits. It was not until 1892 that construction started on the light tower and the light was placed into operation on October 25, 1892.  Once the lighthouse was built it was realized that the fog horn building was only 71/2 feet away from the keeper's house, imagine trying to get some sleep with that noise, and they ended up moving the fog horn building a whole 15 feet to the east.  Great

Located in Silver Lake State Park, this 107-foot tall lighthouse stands tall on the sandy shores of lake Michigan.  Built in 1874, the site for Little Sable Point required crews to build a dock into Lake Michigan to bring supplies, as there were no roads to the area.  The red brick color makes this light unique from others along this section of the Lake Michigan coastline.  The light still houses a third-order Fresnel lens manufactured in Paris, France.  The lens would rotate once every five minutes as ten different bulls eyes in the lens would cause the light to flash every 30 seconds.  Before electricity was available at the light, the keepers would have to wind up a 90-pound weight, suspended in the tower's walls providing the force to rotate the light. Today only the lighthouse tower stands on the beach.  The keeper's house was demolished in 1958 after electricity was run to the lighthouse; the light was automated and no longer required the services of the keeper.  There is