It’s a gorgeous day in southeast Michigan. Cooler temperatures, nice breeze, bright sunshine, and blue skies have me feeling like it’s already autumn.
Even though we have another month of summer.
Today’ cool temperatures made me think of lighthouses, places we often visit when we’re traveling in fall. And while listening to the morning news, I discovered today is National Lighthouse Day.
Michigan Lighthouses
Did you know Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state in the United States?
Michigan has 129 lighthouses along more than 3,200 miles of coastline. (Check out the list of all Michigan lighthouses on Wikipedia.)
I’m not surprised, given our state is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes.
The photo on this post is the Point Iroquois Lighthouse on the southeast edge of Lake Superior.
A lighthouse you can see as you drive the Whitefish Bay National Forest Scenic Byway, one of my favorite fall drives in the Upper Peninsula.
Built in 1870, it’s the second lighthouse built on this location and ran for 93 years before it was deinstalled in 1962. It’s focus was guiding ships through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.
I climbed the narrow stairs in the lighthouse tower to look out over the waters of Lake Superior.
The photo was taken in October 2019, just before the lighthouse closed for winter. We were one our way home and took the scenic route through gorgeous fall colors around Whitefish Bay (with view from Mission Hill) after stops in Marquette, Michigan and Whitefish Point.
