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Name: Thunder Bay Island Light  

Nearest Town or City:
Alpena, Michigan, United States

Location: Southeast end of Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron.

Click to enlarge: 22Kb   
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Related Photos

Managing Organization:
Thunder Bay Island Preservation Society

Website: http://www.thunderbayislandsociety.org
Email:

Contact Address Information:
P.O. Box 212
Alpena
Michigan, 49797,

Notes:
This lighthouse was built to warn mariners of dangerous reefs extending out from the island. The light station is being restored by the Thunder Bay Island Preservation Society. The society seeks donations, and you can help by purchasing a personalized brick that will be placed on the ground around a flagpole near the keeper's house.

Tower Height: 50

Height of Focal Plane: 63

Characteristic and Range: Alternating green and white flash every 20 seconds.

Description of Tower: White conical brick tower with red lantern.

This light is operational

Other Buildings?
1868 two-story brick keeper's house, oil house, storage building, boathouse.

Date Established: 1832

Date Present Tower Built: 1832

Date Automated: 1980

Optics: 18??: Fourth order Fresnel lens; now 190 mm.

Fog Signal: 1858: Fog bell; 1892: Steam-driven fog horn.

Current Use: Active aid to navigation.

Open To Public? No.

Directions:
Accessible by boat only.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Keepers: Joseph Duchene (1832), Jesse Muncey (1832-1843), William Terry (1843-1845), J. J. Malden (1845-1860), Daniel Carter (1860-1861), Peter Panguin (1st assistant, 1860-1865), A. E. Persons (1861-1873), J. D. Persons (1867-1874), Patrick H. McGuire (1874-1882), Mrs. Catharine McGuire (1st assistant, 1874-1882), John Sinclair, Jr. (1882-1894), Richard W. Morris (1st assistant, 1882-1886), William H. Holmes (1st assistant, 1886-1893), Michael M. Cooney (1st assistant, 1893-1894, then head keeper 1894-1901), Edgar B. Adams (1st assistant, 1894-1898), Martin Nelson (1st assistant, 1898-1902), William R. Bennetts (1902-1919), Edward Jacker (1st assistant, 1902-1904), Charles W. Clifford (1st assistant, 1904-1906), James Kay (1st assistant, 1907-1908), William H. Gill (2nd assistant, 1907-1908), Andrew W. Henderson (2nd assistant, 1908-1910), Peter Coughlin (1st assistant, 1908-1918?), Charles F. Roberts (2nd assistant, 1910-1917?), Vernon T. Barningham (2nd assistant, 1917-1928?), Paul J. Klebba (c. 1919-1928), Paul Beloungea (1st assistant, c. 1917-1928), Archebald Davidson (1929-1930), William DeRusha (1932-1939?), Peter Romes (2nd assistant, 1937), James L. MacDonald (1st assistant, c. 1939-1940), Russell C. Perry (2nd assistant, c. 1939-1940), Matthew Storback (c. 1939-1940), Levi Whipple (Coast Guard, c. 1940), Lawrence E. Theisen (Coast Guard, c. 1946-1947), Ralph C. Gates (Coast Guard, 1965)