Ohio Lighthouses - Toledo Harbor

Miles off-shore, Toledo Harbor Lighthouse. 10/6/26 dwm

 It seemed like getting a picture of the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse would be a long shot.  It's article in Lighthousefriends.com said it is best seen by boat.

 The good news was a perfect day, with clear skies and plenty of sunshine. It was still a long shot, literally, to get a usable picture from Maumee Bay State Park.

 That's where we went. We drove to the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center where I parked and walked around the building to a lakeside sidewalk adjacent to the Lodge's Reunion Cabin.

There it was, almost 11-and-a-half miles off-shore!

I didn't bring my tripod so I had to find a way to secure the camera to eliminate the shakes that could ruin a long-distance shot.

S.Manitou Light. 9/23/2019 dwm

The lens on my camera extends to 400 millimeters. It's the longest lens I own, but it's a far cry from the lenses professionals use shooting subjects much, much closer. In my collection of lighthouses, I'm proud of the South Manitou Island lighthouse, which I believe was seven miles from where I took its picture (photo right).  

The Lighthouse is 8 miles northeast of the Toledo Harbor. It marks the shipping canal dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1897, according to Lighthouse Friends history of the light. The work made the route straighter, deeper, and wider.

The Lighthouse Board decided to commit $75,000 for a lighthouse to mark the end of the channel out in Lake Erie so ships could safely find their way from the lake into Toledo.

It took awhile to find a suitable bid for the project, delaying work until 1901. The three-story brick lighthouse has a one-story fog signal building alongside it. 

While the last keepers left their post in 1966, it remased an aid to navigation and the U.S. Coast Guard makes regular visits to clean and service, the light, the solar panels, and backup batteries.

It is being restored, but it will likely be just a few lighthouse fans who get to visit. If you're close and it's a sunny day, the Maumee Bay State Park is a good place to look. While I was there, I could of seen the Fresnel lens that used to serve in the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse, but I forgot to check in at the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center.

The Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center. 10/6/2025 dwm

The Maumee Bay Lodge Reunion Cabin in front of Lake Erie. 10/6/2025 dwm

 

A long shot, zoomed in for a slightly fuzzy close-up. 10/6/2025 dwm