Wind Point Lighthouse

Wind Point Lighthouse near Racine
7/15/2017  dwm photo

Just like covered bridges, there are scores of lighthouses - each with its own personality and style.

Many combine fashion with function, while others are working lights with a simple, austere beauty.

Wind Point combines style and work.  The light's been on since November 15, 1880 showing the way to sailors on the unpredictable Lake Michigan water between Milwaukee and Racine.

The U. S. Coast Guard maintains the light, fully automated since 1964, while the village of Wind Point cares for the grounds and the keeper's home as a Nationally Registered Historic Place.

When the first lamp was lit, it used kerosene as fuel and with a third order Fresnel lens could be seen 19 miles off shore.

It stands 108 feet tall, so that's one large candle on the water.

Lighting the way since 1880.  (dwm)

Twenty years after the lighthouse was built, a fog horn house was added to the mix, booming a sound warning to boats up to ten miles away.

Fitting for a Wisconsin fog horn house, it was first used during a snow storm in 1901.

Tours of the keeper's house and tower are offered the first Sunday of the month between June and October, but not  we stopped. People living in the house take care of the grounds, which include the building, lakeside garden and manicured lawn.

The fog horn house.  (dwm)

The lawn and room in the hall are both available for rent.  You can even rent it to "pop the question," although if the answer is no, it is a long way down.

As tall as it is, from the land the lighthouse can be hidden behind trees and homes.  Driving to it, I missed the turn, in part because I couldn't see it.

Only when I turned around in Shoop Park Golf Course parking lot did I see it standing tall.

As seen across the Shoop Park Golf Course (dwm)

Since chartering a boat wasn't an option, the long view across an ocean of grass was as close as I got to a view toward the light.

Wind Point is 18 miles south of the southernmost Milwaukee light and 3 - 1/2 miles north of Racine Harbor.  A good place to keep boats at safe distance.

In the upcoming blog about the Racine Breakwater light, look closely at the photo and see if you can't find Wind Point in the background.  (It publishs 8/5/2017)

If you find yourself traveling between Kenosha and Milwaukee, you'll be glad you chose to stop by the Wind Point lighthouse.