La Pointe Light

The La Pointe Light is a lighthouse located on Long Island, one of the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior in Ashland County, Wisconsin, near the city of Bayfield.

La Pointe Light

Location	Long Island, Wisconsin
Coordinates	46°43′43.2″N 90°47′6.4″W
Year first constructed	1896
Year first lit	1896
Automated	1964
Foundation	Concrete
Construction	Cast iron
Tower shape	White, Skeletal with a central column
Tower height	65 feet (20 m)
Focal height	70 feet (21 m)[1]
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens	12-inch (300 mm)Tideland Signal ML-300 Acrylic Optic
Range	8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)[2]
Characteristic	Green, Isophase (Equal interval), 6 sec
ARLHS number	USA-423
USCG number	7-15280
Heritage	place listed on the National Register of Historic Places
La Pointe Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Bayfield, Wisconsin
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
MPS	U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
NRHP reference No.	83003366[3]
Added to NRHP	August 04, 1983

Currently owned by the National Park Service and part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, as reference number 83003366. Listed in the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, WI-325 and WI-325-A. One of the oldest skeletal lighthouses on the Great Lakes, it played an important role in transportation on Lake Superior.[4]

USCG archive photo

A square wooden tower, constructed in 1858, was located around 3,000 feet (910 m) west of the current light.[5] The previous lens was moved to the Chequamegon Point Lighthouse in 1897. It is one of the Apostle Islands Lighthouses.

Getting there

Most of the Apostle Islands light stations may be reached on the Apostle Islands Cruise Service[6] water taxi or by private boat during the summer. During the Annual Apostle Island Lighthouse Celebration[7] ferry tour service is available for all the lighthouses. In the tourist season, volunteer park rangers are on many of the islands to greet visitors.[8]

References

1. Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes". Archived from the original on 2008-01-30.
2. Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard.
3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
4. Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, New La Pointe Light Station. Archived 2013-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
5. Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Old La Pointe Light Station.
6. Apostle Islands Cruise Service.
7. Apostle Island Lighthouse Celebration.
8. Wobser, David, La Pointe Light, Boatnerd Originally in Great Laker Magazine.

Further reading

• Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers.
• Jalbert, Andrew J. Schooner Lucerne: Lessons from a Great Lakes Shipwreck (July 27, 2007) originally printed in Sea History magazine, The Wreck of the Schooner Lucerne.
• Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
• Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes". Archived from the original on 2008-01-30.
• Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1-55046-399-3.

External links

• Aerial photos of La Pointe Light, Marina.com.
• Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Survey number HABS WI-325
• Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Survey number HABS WI-325-A
• Lighthouse Friends, La Pointe Light article
• National Park Service Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin, La Pointe Light.
• Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, New La Pointe Light Station.
• Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Old La Pointe Light Station.
• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Northern Wisconsin". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard.
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Wisconsin". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
• Wobser, David, La Pointe Light, Boatnerd Originally in Great Laker Magazine.