Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Open May 11 - October 8, 2023
$9.75 admission     $7 ages 5-12

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Map
Touring the Lighthouse

McGulpin Point Lighthouse

Lighthouses of the Straits of Mackinac

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse lantern room
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse - Mackinaw City, Michigan
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and fog signal station with the Mackinac Bridge in the background - Mackinaw City, Michigan

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse was built in Mackinaw City, Michigan in 1892 to replace the 1869 McGulpin Point Lighthouse, which was located two miles farther west. A fog signal had been put in place 2 years earlier, in a building which was torn down around 1940 and is currently being reconstructed to house a new Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Museum in the summer of 2014.

When in operation, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse housed the families of a lighthouse keeper and an assistant keeper in separate apartments. The families of the keepers assisted with tasks such as hauling oil to the lantern room at the top of the 50' tower. That oil lamp was replaced by an electric light in 1929.

A radio beacon was added to the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in 1937. It was installed in the the same building as the fog horn. In the 1930s, the original steam whistles were replaced with air horns which took much less work to maintain. The horns are demonstrated several times during the day.

Each lighthouse in a region is unique, giving navigators more cues as to which navigational aid they are seeing or hearing. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse was constructed from Indiana limestone, giving it an attractive castle like appearance. The light was a revolving, fourth order Fresnel lens which gave a red flash every ten seconds. The fog whistles also had their own pattern, with a 5 second blast, 17 seconds of silence, another 5 second blast, and 33 seconds of silence, repeated once a minute. 

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse remained in operation until 1957, when the lights on the nearby Mackinac Bridge made the navigational aid no longer necessary. Today the lighthouse is part Mackinac State Historic Parks and is open for tours in the late spring through fall. 

Straits of Mackinac Lighthouses - Great Lakes Straits of Mackinac lighthouses

McGulpin Point Lighthouse - Mackinaw City, Michigan
Touring Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Mackinac Bridge - Straits of Mackinac Straits of Mackinac Lighthouse Tour by Air

Round Island Lighthouse

McGulpin Point Lighthouse

 

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse complex
Fog signal station at left, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in center and wooden barn at right

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and Mackianc Bridge at night
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse at dusk

Mackinac Bridge and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, Mackinaw City
Mackinac Bridge and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse from the air
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse complex in 2013

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouseas seen from the water
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse viewed from the Mackinac Bridge during the annual Labor Day Bridge Walk

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in Autum
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and the Straits of Mackinac are beautiful in all season

Moon and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse at night
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and the rising full moon

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Page 2      Lighthouses of the Straits of Mackinac

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Copyright 2005-2023 by Keith Stokes