Featured Destination Story

Whitefish Point Light

Paradise,

The Whitefish Point Light is arguably the most important light on Lake Superior. All vessels entering and leaving Lake Superior must pass by the light. It stands on the treacherous southern shoreline of Lake Superior known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" in an area with more shipwrecks than any other area of the lake.

Construction on the first light began in 1847 and was first lit in 1849. It marks the point for course change for vessels heading from the southern coast of the lake to the Soo Locks. The Whitefish Point area has had more shipwrecks than any other area in Lake Superior, most notably, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, whose story was sung in a ballad by Gordon Lightfoot the following year.

The original structure of the lighthouse was outfitted with Lewis lamps and then upgraded to a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens. The current structure, while modern looking, is a Civil War relic. Built in 1861, the iron skeletal steel framework was designed to relieve stress caused by high winds.