Michigan Lights - White River and Ludington

The White River Lighthouse
9/18/2017     dwm photo

The drive to the White River Lighthouse winds around the south shore of White Lake before bending north.

You follow a winding one and a half lane road between summer cottages and boat houses then a dead-end and a small sign pointing to the Lighthouse museum.

It is beautiful in a subdued way.  The brick house is shaded by trees on one side and exposed to much larger Lake Michigan on the other.

The yellow brick home built in 1875 looks like any home of its generation except for the octagonal tower rising on the northwest corner.

Since 1960 the lighthouse and museum has offered looks at Lake Michigan and down the dredged channel of the White River to its namesake lake.

White River and its lighthouse
9/18/17   (dwm)

Our problem, it was Monday and it was only open the other six days of the week.

We couldn't go inside to climb up to the lantern.  We could walk around the house and down the sidewalk along the river.

If a light can be unobtrusive, that's a good description for the White River light.  Dependable, unassuming, yet a bright light on the shore.

The Ludington North Pierhead Lighthouse seen from shore
9/18/2017  dwm photo

An hour north is Ludington.

It is still a commercial port, home to the S. S. Badger, a passenger and car ferry which has made the 60 mile run to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and back since 1953.

The first light on the shore went up in 1859.  Several generations of lights spent time on the water, but it was 1924 before the North Pierhead Light took its place.

According to its history on Lighthouse friends, the 55 foot light was built to cut through crashing waves like the bow of a ship.

I couldn't take this shot if the
waves were big.  (dwm)

The tilt, visible in my photos, was caused by settling of the crib under the water supporting the light.  The Army Corps of Engineers investigated and declared it safe, so the leaning light stands askew 4 degrees to the northeast.

Unlike most of the other lights on the lake, the North Pierhead light wasn't retired until 2005.

The walk from shore was beautiful when I walked it in the late afternoon sun.

The west side of the light.  (dwm)

To the west, I saw a shape on the horizon.  It was the S. S. Badger.

The Pierhead Light is impressive.

It towers above autumn visitors.  If the winds of November blow storms across the lake it is easy to imagine waves crashing half-way up the beacon or higher.

It isn't a lighthouse because there is no house; just a strong tower topped with a lantern capable of guiding in ships far from shore.

The walk out the north pier wasn't as far or as exciting as the next light up the coast, Big Sable, but still gorgeous in its own setting.

My walk from shore was more than a mile out and back with unfettered views and many angles to shoot along the way.

Just a simple light, perhaps, but it holds its ground resolutely.