Our trip took us along the Lake Michigan coast to Point Bêtise, MI. This is a stretch of the coast that is covered in sand dunes. The roads have to be scrapped after every storm in order to remove the sand. It can pile up several feet in some places. In the middle of these dunes sits a well known lighthouse called Point Bêtise Lighthouse.
It is hard to get a good photo of Point Bêtise because the house sits on top of a dune and is only about 25 feet from the water. There is a concrete runway from the house to the top of the steel retaining wall. The runway has concrete blocks sticking up (see photo taken from tower) to break up the ice when it flows in during a winter storm. The retaining wall is all that keeps Lake Michigan from washing the lighthouse away. Point Bêtise is fortunate to have a very large volunteer group that last year alone, worked 39,000 man hours. The inside was totally renovated at a cost of over $750,000. Donations, grants, and lots of bake sales help raise the money.
The fog horn building is used now to show videos and displays. Note the retaining wall on the left of the building and how much the beach has eroded behind the fog horn building. Some of the sand dunes can be seen over top of the building.
Our next stop was to revisit Frankfort, MI and the Frankfort Breakwater Lighthouse. Last year it was raining and we did not get out of the car. The lighthouse is 44 feet tall and was built in 1912. It is still in service and owned by the Coast Guard.
Our final stop of the day was in Manistee, MI to see a very unusual lighthouse, the Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse. Note the elevated walkway to the lighthouse. This allowed the keeper to get to the lighthouse when the waves were breaking over the pier, as they were today. The Pierhead Lighthouse, built in 1927, is 39 feet tall. Owned by the Coast Guard, it too is still in service.
Tomorrow we will be stopping at the Ludington, MI State Park and then will travel to Grand Rapids, MI.
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