Wisconsin Lights - Racine Harbor

Facing Lake Michigan next to the Root
River stands the Racine Harbor lighthouse.
7/21/2018  dwm photo

The river in this southeastern Wisconsin coastal community was known to Native Americans for the roots embedded in its bed.

The native Potawatomi called it Chippecotton or Root River.

French explorer Jacques Marquette used the French word, racine.

Which is why the Root River flows past the Racine Harbor Lighthouse.

My visit to Racine to take pictures of lighthouses July 15, 2017 brought me here, but I missed it.  Instead I stood on shore in a small park photographing the Racine Breakwater light instead.

Just a few weeks later as I wrote the blog for August 12 I realized that I got the wrong one.

I'm glad I could correct the error and add to my collection.

The life saving station (left) and lighthouse (right) are
both registered National Historic places. 6/21/18 (dwm)

Lighthouse and life-saving station are next to where I parked last year but on the other side of a fence surrounding Pugh Marina.

You can't stop me that easily two years in a row. I drove to the boat shop and to ask if I might take pictures of the lighthouse.

The pleasant person at the desk said sure, but admitted she didn't know there was a lighthouse on the property.

I made way along the river to where it emptied into the lake and found two gray homes.

The first light was built further inland in 1839 before it was replaced by a one and a half story house with a square tower facing the lake.  It went into operation in 1866.

The former life saving station is home to guests now
but with an attached two-boat garage it still looks the part.
6/21/2018  dwm photo

The Breakwater light was installed at the end of the pier in 1901 and the lighthouse was remodeled to add a second floor for the keeper of the Breakwater light.

The life-saving station housed predecessors to what we now call the Coast Guard.  It was built around the same time as the lighthouse.

This was the first saving station I saw up close.

While neither is open to the public and the lighthouse is stripped of its old light; both are important players in Wisconsin maritime history.