![]() 23, 2.5 miles southeast of East Tawas, the lighthouse is open for tours from early May to mid-October, every day except Tuesdays. This is the lighthouse keepers living quarters. Located in Tawas Point State Park, off U.S. Lens (amythepipertravels) on Instagram: I explored the East Tawas Point Lighthouse for my chapter. Tawas Point Lighthouse is one of 11 nationally accredited museums administered by the Michigan Historical Center, an agency within the Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the DNR Parks and Recreation Division. Applications and detailed information are available at Dates and prices are effective through 2014. Chuck Allen, supervisor at Tawas Point State Park, suggests that volunteers should be physically able to lead tours through the lighthouse and tower and perform housekeeping duties such as light maintenance or yard work. The lighthouse keeper program is open to singles and couples 18 years and older. “Wonderful program, wonderful facility and wonderful memories.” “I feel blessed to have many memories of folks I met this week,” former keeper Robert Ulrich wrote in the Lighthouse Keeper Journal. Serving as a lighthouse keeper allows vacationers to enjoy a unique lodging experience with spectacular views, while supporting and preserving a historical landmark. The living quarters include two bedrooms, a modern kitchen and bath. In exchange for their work contribution, volunteers are able to stay in the newly renovated keeper’s quarters for a cost of $250 per person, per week. Volunteer duties include studying the lighthouse’s rich maritime history, leading guests on lighthouse tours and other miscellaneous duties. 20 acting as lighthouse keepers for the Tawas Point Lighthouse, located on the grounds of Tawas Point State Park along the shores of Lake Huron in East Tawas. The DNR seeks volunteers to spend a week or two between March 1 and Dec. ![]() Lighthouse Society.The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is offering a fresh idea in vacation destinations. Researched and written by Melissa Buckler, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. The light station is located with the Tawas Point State Park and is open to the public. They have demolished the 1922 Assistant Keeper’s Quarters. In 2001 ownership moved to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who are currently renovating the property. By this time the lighthouse was again far from the actual point. The actual date of automation is unknown but it is believed to be in 1953. George Galbraith was the first to serve as assistant keeper at Tawas Point, with his official start date being March 16, 1900. In 1902 the name of Ottawa Point officially became Tawas Point. In 1922 a house in town was purchased and moved to the site for the assistant. As the need for an assistant became clear, so did the need for quarters for such a position. The tower is attached to the keepers quarters by a small passageway. In 1891 a new Fourth Order lens was installed. The date of the first lighting is unknown but some time during the 1877 shipping season it was shining. During the winter the Fifth Order lens was removed from the original tower and placed in the newly completed structure. Just like the first tower, it was completed at the end of the season and the onset of winter so lighting was postponed until the following spring. The short tower was of little real use to mariners as it was now almost three quarters of a mile from the end of the point.Ĭonstruction began on a new tower in 1876. Another natural phenomenon was also at play. Ottawa Point received a Fifth Order lens in 1856. With the establishment of the Lighthouse Board by Congress, one of the priorities of the new board was to replace the Lewis Lamps with the much more effective and powerful Fresnel Lens manufactured in Paris, France. ![]() These proved on more than occasion to be inadequate. The original system of lighting was a system of “Lewis Lamps”. ![]() Since the station was completed so late in the “shipping season” the decision was made to wait until the shipping season of 1853 to light it. A small keeper’s quarters was also built. A squat 45-foot rubblestone tower was completed at the end of 1852. Construction began on a light station on Ottawa Point as it was known in 1852. However, it was dangerous to navigate the end of the point in bad weather or darkness. The hook of Tawas Point offered ships protection in Tawas Bay from the winds of Lake Huron. Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED TAWAS BAY, TAWAS POINT, LAKE HURON, MICHIGANįoundation Materials: DRESSED STONE/TIMBER Originally built in 1853, current tower built in 1876. Tawas Point Lighthouse, Tawas Bay, Lake Huron, Baldwin County, Iosco County, Michigan
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