Ohio Lighthouses - Marblehead

Marblehead Lighthouse. 10/8/2025 dwm

Prior to our trip to Ohio, the lighthouse I was most excited to see was Marblehead.

I didn't do a lot of research about it before the trip but did know, thanks to it's history on the Lighthouse Friends website, that Marblehead is the oldest, continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes.

What I didn't know, was that the venerable light's history goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War!

The 15th United States Congress approved $5,000 in 1819 to build a light on the Marblehead Peninsula to guide ships into Sandusky Bay and aid navigation between the mainland and off-shore islands and the shallow depths surrounding them.

Marblehead. 10/8/25 dwm

Construction of the light started in 1821. The first keeper was a local resident, considered among the first Europeans to settle, and a veteran of the Revolutionary War. was already in the area in 1809 when he bought 114 acres where he built a cabin for his family. During the , his family moved out and returned when the war ended.

Wolcott served 10 years as a keeper before dying of cholera in 1832. His wife, Rachel, took over his duties, becoming the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes.

The lighthouse in the photos is the original light, with a few modifications and repairs. William Kelly and his crew of two built a 50-foot limestone tower with a base 16-feet in diameter with walls that are 5-feet thick. The top was 12-feet in diameter with walls 2-feet thick.

In 1877, the Lighthouse Board recommended rebuilding the light station, but because the keeper's house was in worse condition than the tower, the money was spent there. Ultimately, in 1897 the top 8-feet of the tower was removed and a round extension with a watch room was added.

The lantern came from the Erie Land light. 10/8/25 dwm

A new brick cylindrical pipe was built for a new spiral staircase and to support the larger lantern room taken from the Erie Land Lighthouse.

When the Coast Guard was ready to leave the lighthouse it became part of an adjoining park which became known as Marblehead Lighthouse State Park.

The grounds were open but the keeper's house and tower were closed to visitors when we stopped at the light. I walked around the point looking for picturesque views of the light, the lake, and some of the station's buildings.

The lightkeeper's quarters was built in 1880. 10/8/2025 dwm

After the state took ownership of the light-station, there was a commitment to repair and renovate the tower and Victorian-era home.

Some of the brickwork in the tower was rebuilt and cracks in the tower's stucco shell was repaired. The house was lifted with jacks to replace support columns and beams and the original oak floors were restored.

In my walk around the grounds, I saw a replica of the life-saving station complete with rails to the water which would have been used to take the boat from its' house to the lake.