pointe aux barques lighthouse

I loved going into the building and seeing how early Michigan lighthouse keepers lived. It was an insight on how lonely and lovely it must have been. The maps show how important the light houses were for the protection of the ships that sailed the Lakes. We couldn't go up into the lighthouse, but it was still beautiful to see the Lake from the shore. I bought souvenirs and plan to see all of the lighthouses I can.

Through happenstance or error, in 1848 the Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse was built near Port Hope about 20 miles south of Michigan’s tip of the Thumb, that geographical feature also called Point aux Barques. It has confused visitors for decades. Fire destroyed the keeper’s house thus an entirely new keeper’s house and attached 89 foot light tower were built in 1857. Still operating, this is one of the oldest continuously operating lights on the Great Lakes. Our visit coincided with the Annual Lighthouse Reunion (first weekend in August) that provided fun, food, entertainment and a tower climb to the outside gallery to view the surrounding area. A small gift shop is in the old oil house. The Museum contains memorabilia, original documents & pictures of the lighthouse, its history, and keepers. A large map details the many ship wrecks that lie under the local waters. The Thumb Bottomland Preserve surrounding Pointe aux Barques contains 105 known wrecks that is proof of the shipping danger here. The lighthouse grounds are managed by Huron County including a large campground for tenting, trailers, kayaking & recreation. A visit to the light station is a wonderful activity during your exploration of Michigan’s Thumb, only two hours north of Port Huron.

We went and saw the museum. It was cool. They had a lot of old stuff and interesting articles. It was cool to think about all the history this lighthouse had. Bummer that we weren't able to climb the lighthouse but it was still cool to see it.

We almost climbed to the top. My 5 year old son is afraid of heights and he was crying once we started walking up. The steps are steep. He wanted to keep going, we were really close, but I encouraged him to turn around because I was afraid of going farther up and it becoming more difficult to go down. My husband, a fit 40 year old man, said it was difficult to make it to the top. Mostly because of the size of the steps. One volunteer suggested sitting down on each step to go down. My son and I (the afraid of heights people) went down, in a crawling position. It was only $2 so it is worth a try. We were there for the festival and it was really great. Good way to spend an hour or two if you are in the area, during the festival (I don't think you can climb at other times).

I have visited this lighthouse on many occasions, but it is a must stop every time I drive by, on an excursion around the Thumb of MI. M-25 is a scenic drive and this park is pretty central to the Thumb, coming in either direction. Manned by a great group of volunteers! Very nice people. Museum is worth the stop, however going up in the tower is limited to certain holidays, hours and weekends, so check before heading out to see it. Very nice campground, and right on Lake Huron. Plenty of parking, bathrooms clean. Beautiful lighthouse, and it still is a working lighthouse, at that.

nice stop nice lighthouse the downside we were not allowed to go to the top of the light house no need to make a special trip

This is an amazing piece of history---definitely a must see. Only advice to know is that their hours on the website is wrong...they (we went the 4th of July weekend 2014) is from 10a-5p They were so incredibly nice though and although we arrived at 5:05p they stayed and let us as well as two other couples go up the tower. The hosts are volunteers and very knowledgeable and welcoming! They also said the tower is only open on holiday weekends as it is manned by volunteers. It is a working lighthouse still so it has to have someone monitoring the tower. The lighthouse society have done a superb job of preserving history and sharing it with the public! Thanks!....Also, they have an annual lighthouse festival in August. They say that is a must do!

This lighthouse is located in a nice county park that allows camping. If you are in the thumb area of Michigan this is a must-see. They have a worked hard to make a nice museum inside the lighthouse dwelling, one of the best lighthouse museums in Michigan. The staff/volunteers are some of the nicest people I've interacted with while traveling. The museum is free to visit, but they do charge $1 to climb the tower. Because this is still a working light used by the Coast Guard you are not able to go to the very top/cat walk but you can make it up to the work room. The staff/volunteer in the tower and I talked for over 30 minutes because he was so knowledgeable. I did not go into the gift shop, but the friend I was traveling with did and she said it was very basic, mostly clothing souvenirs for sale.The only thing I can say as a negative is that they need to update their website information. The website indicates they're open daily from 10am-6pm Memorial Day-Oct 15 but we arrived at 10:30am on Sunday Sept 1 and the sign out front said they open at 11:00am on Sundays. Also, the tower is only open select days of the year (not sure which days) which isn't specified online. Luckily the amazing staff member out front said we were more then welcome to go inside.Overall excellent experience!! Very easy to find right off of highway 25. There was also a ice cream trailer with snacks for sale on the grounds.

Great free experience on the shores of Lake Huron. Nice park area with adjacent camp ground. If you are exploring the thumb area, this is a nice free access point to viewLakeHuron and learn about shipwrecks and the first female lighthouse keeper. Definitely worth a stop.

Very nice display of this lighthouse's history in the lighthouse. Can go up to second floor but can only climb lighthouse on certain days of year.

We were spending the day in search of Michigan lighthouses. This is a real gem. It is not often that you find a lighthouse that is open. The lighthouse was not open for climbing to the top, but the information in the museum was very interesting and the property was very nice including the views.

Beautiful views, nice history. People were very friendly and helpful. Walking near the water was nice and it was a nice little stop while traveling the thumb.

This is a nice lighthouse sitting right on Lake Huron. It is free to visit although you can only go to the top on Saturday and Sunday. There are some cool artifacts inside, including a door signed by one of the ship captains in the 1800's. Seeing as how there is not much to see or do at all in this area other than Lake Huron, put this on your list of stops.

Stopped at the lighthouse and museum during our recent tour of Michigan's thumb area. The volunteers were friendly, informative and very personable. The museum tour is free and full of maritime history and memorabilia. The beautiful view of Lake Huron made this stop well worth our time!

Nice shore line community light house gives info on how they helped theboats on teh lakes and stories of ships that went down, nice park and a piece of Michigan history.