1840 Decommissioned Lake Huron Lighthouse
5295 East Grand Lake Road, Presque Isle, MI 49777
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Modest admission to the keeper's cottage museum and tower. Check with Presque Isle Township for current rates.
Access
Limited Access
Sand and grass paths; steep ladder to tower
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1840 · National Register of Historic Places · One of the Oldest Lighthouses on the Great Lakes · Decommissioned 1871
The Old Presque Isle Lighthouse was constructed in 1840 on the eastern shore of the small peninsula known as Presque Isle, which juts into Lake Huron between Thunder Bay and Hammond Bay. The lighthouse was one of the earliest constructed on the lower Great Lakes and was built to guide shipping along the Huron coast as commercial traffic on the lake grew rapidly through the 1830s and 1840s.
The original tower stands 38 feet tall, constructed of fieldstone and brick. Adjacent is a small keeper's cottage. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1871 when the New Presque Isle Light, a much taller cast-iron tower, was completed approximately a mile to the north. The new light continues to operate.
The Old Presque Isle property was acquired and preserved through the twentieth century by various owners and is now operated as a small museum. George Parris and his wife Loraine served as caretakers from the 1970s; George died in 1992, and Loraine continued to operate the museum for years afterward. The Old Presque Isle Light is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
The Old Presque Isle Lighthouse's modern lore originates with the death of caretaker George Parris in 1992. Parris and his wife Loraine had served as caretakers since the 1970s; George was known among regional historians for his fondness for staging small surprises for visitors.
The reports that began in 1992 concern the lighthouse optic. The Coast Guard had permanently disabled the original lens years earlier when the property was decommissioned and converted to a museum. According to the regional record collected by 99 WFMK, Lost in Michigan, and the Michigan in Pictures public history project, Loraine Parris and subsequent witnesses reported observing the disabled optic illuminating at night, only to find on inspection that no current source remained connected and no mechanism could have produced the light.
The accounts have been documented by Air National Guard pilots who reported seeing the illuminated lighthouse from low-altitude training flights and by the Coast Guard, which conducted inspections that confirmed the optic could not have been illuminated by any conventional means. The pattern of intermittent illumination is the most consistent element of the lore.
A secondary thread of the published lore concerns a young child visitor in the 1990s who reported having a conversation with a kindly older man in the tower's lantern room. According to the family's account, no one else was in the tower at the time. The child was later shown a photograph of George Parris in the keeper's cottage museum and identified him as the man with whom she had spoken.
The lighthouse has been featured in regional Michigan tourism press and in Fox News coverage of haunted lighthouses. The Parris family and current museum staff present the reports as cultural artifact rather than confirmed event.
Notable Entities
Climb the 38-foot tower of one of the oldest standing lighthouses on the Great Lakes, built in 1840 and decommissioned in 1871 when a new tower was built nearby. The keeper's cottage operates as a small museum and includes a photograph of caretaker George Parris, identified by visitors in connection with the lighthouse's published lore.
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Presque Isle, MI
The New Presque Isle Lighthouse, completed in 1870 on the Lake Huron shore north of Alpena, Michigan, replaced an earlier 1840 light known today as the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse. At 113 feet, it is the tallest publicly climbable lighthouse tower on the Great Lakes and operates as a museum within Presque Isle Township Park.
Gulliver, MI
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse, built in 1895 on a rocky point of Lake Michigan's north shore, marks one of the few natural harbors of refuge along Michigan's Upper Peninsula coast. The Gulliver Historical Society now operates the keeper's house as a maritime museum.
Ontonagon, MI
The Ontonagon Lighthouse marks the mouth of the Ontonagon River on Lake Superior. The original 1853 tower was replaced in 1866-1867 with the current 1.5-story cream brick structure with attached square light tower. Decommissioned in 1964, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and is operated as a museum by the Ontonagon County Historical Society.