1895 Upper Peninsula Light Station and Keeper's Quarters
905 South Seul Choix Road, Gulliver, MI 49840
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Modest admission for the keeper's house museum and tower climb; see venue website.
Access
Limited Access
Gravel walkways; spiral tower staircase requires able climbers
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1895 · Lake Michigan Lighthouse · U.P. Maritime History · Active Aid to Navigation
Seul Choix Point, French for "only choice," was named by 17th-century French voyageurs who recognized the rocky headland as the sole harbor of refuge along an otherwise unprotected stretch of Lake Michigan's north shore. Congress authorized a light station at the point in 1886, and the 80-foot brick tower and attached keeper's quarters were completed in 1895.
The station's second keeper, Captain Joseph Willie Townshend, served from 1901 until his death in 1910. Owing to the remote Upper Peninsula winter conditions, Townshend's body was embalmed in the basement of the keeper's quarters and laid in state in the parlor for nearly three weeks while family members made the journey north to pay their respects. The unusual circumstances of his death and viewing are central to the site's later folklore.
The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1972 and decommissioned the keeper's quarters as a working residence. The Gulliver Historical Society took over stewardship and opened the keeper's house as a maritime museum, with exhibits on Great Lakes shipwrecks, the history of the light station, and the daily lives of the keepers and their families.
The museum operates seasonally from Memorial Day through mid-October. Visitors can climb the tower (78 steps), tour the keeper's quarters and fog-signal building, and walk the rocky point.
Sources
Reports of paranormal activity at Seul Choix Point Lighthouse cluster on the keeper's quarters and the second keeper, Captain Joseph Willie Townshend. The most consistent phenomenon described by volunteers and visitors is the smell of cigar or pipe tobacco in the parlor and dining room. Townshend was a habitual cigar smoker, and the keeper's house operates today as a smoke-free historic site.
Volunteers setting tables for living-history demonstrations have reported finding silverware moved from American place-setting orientation (fork on the left, knife on the right with the blade facing in) to British place-setting orientation overnight. Townshend was English by birth, and the British orientation matches his expected practice. Hazy faces have been reported in the upstairs bedroom mirrors.
The Detroit Free Press cited investigator Mark Tedsen, after more than 350 paranormal investigations across Michigan, ranking Seul Choix Point among the top five sites in the state for compelling documented evidence. Michigan State University's journalism school published a 2023 feature on the lighthouse's paranormal documentation, which catalogs volunteer accounts going back to the museum's opening.
The lore also includes objects moved in the children's bedroom upstairs, where toys are reportedly found rearranged after the museum has been locked. The Gulliver Historical Society treats the paranormal narrative as part of the site's interpretive offering rather than as a sales pitch — paranormal investigation groups are accommodated by arrangement, and the museum's history exhibits address Townshend's life as a navigational professional rather than as a horror subject.
Notable Entities
Climb the 1895 tower (78 stair-risers) and tour the keeper's quarters, the fog signal building, and the former boathouse. The Gulliver Historical Society operates the site as a maritime museum from Memorial Day through mid-October, with displays on Lake Michigan shipwrecks and the life of second keeper Joseph Willie Townshend.
Walk the rocky point and beach grounds around the station — open year-round, even when the museum is closed. The point juts south into Lake Michigan and offers wide views of the open lake.
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