South Fox Island, Leelanau Peninsula
On
a small, secluded island in northern Lake Michigan, just north of the
Leelanau Peninsula, stands the South Fox Island lighthouse
facility. Established in 1868,
several long-abandoned structures continue their lonely vigil while gradually
deteriorating from the severe Great Lakes climate. The original schoolhouse-style
lighthouse remains, but will soon succumb to the elements if not restored.
Open windows allow sunlight, rain, snow and birds access to the empty
rooms. Thick
vegetation nearly consumes the 1911 lighthouse keepers' double dwelling, while
the pristine interior woodwork awaits a long-overdue polishing. The doors of
the 1934 steel skeletal tower – one of only three remaining in the Great
Lakes – swing open, and the rusting adjacent fog signal building slowly
collapses, its unique interior woodworking already exposed to the harsh weather.
An oil house and a small work shed also grace the landscape. Remnants of the
dock clutter the shoreline, and the boathouse lies half filled with stones
piled into the structure by decades of battering water and ice.
Lighthouse Facts
Holland Harbor
Big Sable
South Fox Island
Point Betsie
Port Austin Reef
Gull Rock
