Big Bay Point Lighthouse
Encyclopedia
The Big Bay Point Light is a lighthouse
which stands on a tall bluff over a rocky point near Big Bay, Michigan
, approximately 24 miles (39 km) miles northwest of Marquette
on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
. Today it is the only operational lighthouse with a bed and breakfast
. It is reputed to be haunted, and the novel and movie Anatomy of a Murder
were inspired by a murder rooted at the lighthouse.
was recommended to the Lighthouse board in 1882 as follows: "The point occupies a position midway between Granite Island
and Huron Islands
, the distance in each case being 15 to 18 miles (29 km). These two lights are invisible from each other and the intervening stretch is unlighted. A light and fog signal would be a protection to steamers passing between these points. Quite a number of vessels have in past years been wrecked on Big Bay Point".
train whistle
s that stuck out of the roof of the building and were operated by steam boilers. In 1928, the steam whistle
s were replaced in 1928 by a modern air diaphone
.
There were also two small brick privies
, a brick building with a metal roof and a door for storing oil for the lens.
On October 20, 1896, the 3rd-order fixed Fresnel lens went into service. It was "fitted with a 3 wick burner same as a 2nd order light and consuming the same quantity of oil". To increase the steady white light, partially screened rotating panels were installed, creating "a brilliant white flash every twenty seconds.' This lens is considered to be sufficiently significant that models have been made and marketed as technological "diamonds" -- "a superior example of mathematical dimension and extraordinary beauty. . . . With its magnificent series of concentric
glass
prisms
, the light would reflect back through the central lens -- a perfect example of a 'catadioptric
system."
An office was on the tower's lower level, and it was accessible only from the head keeper's side. Each dwelling had six rooms, including on the first floor a kitchen
, parlor and dining room
. and on the second floor three bedrooms. Each side had a basement cistern to collect water from the roof eaves and a pump in the kitchen to get water from the cistern to the sink for washing dishes. When paint contamination of the cisterns was discovered, water was fetched frorm the lake in 5 gallon buckets.
The aid to navigation was deactivated and sold to private owners. In 1990 the original Fresnel lens was recovered and reinstalled, and is on exhibit.
's house to Dan Hitchens of Traverse City. Mr. Hitchens added bathrooms and executive meeting rooms, intending to convert the place to a bed and breakfast.
Five years later, Hitchens sold the lighthouse to an investment group of whom the managing owners were Norman "Buck" Gotschall, and his wife Mrs. Gotschall. Bed-and-breakfast amenities were added, the fog signal building was reopened, additional acreage acquired, and hiking trails opened. The new bed-and-breakfast opened in 1986.
Nearing retirement, the Gotschalls and their partners decided to sell, and in March 1992 the lighthouse was purchased by the fourth and present (as of 2009) owners, three avid preservationists from the Chicago area. John Gale, Linda Gamble, and Jeff Gamble had been guests at the B&B and fell in love with the lighthouse and the tiny hamlet of Big Bay on their first visit.
The light was built in 1896 at a cost of $25,000. It was automated in 1944. In 1961 the lighthouse was sold to John Pick for $40,000. Dr. Pick had it restored and furnished with antiques. It was set up originally as a duplex, so it would have quarters for two keepers and their families. It has been a bed and breakfast
since 1986.
Access to the grounds and tours of the light (and fog horn building) are available.
Because of its picturesque location, form and color it is often the subject of photographs, and many drawings.
Big Bay Point Light is one of more than 150 past and present lighthouses in Michigan. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state. See Lighthouses in the United States
.
. Originally, this housed the keeper
(and his family) and an assistant keeper with family as well. As the country moved to 8 hour shifts, a frame building with outhouse was built at the bottom of the hill for a second assistant keeper.
At the time the light was built the only way to get to and from the aid to navigation was by water. Those who worked at Big Bay Point were truly isolated. The keepers' wives not only had to do the usual housekeeping and food preparation, but also schooling of any children in residence.
Other structures on the site include two cisterns, an oil house, a garage, 2 brick outhouse
s, a dock. a well house and a brick fog signal building, which housed the original Fresnel lens
for display. However, another source opines that: "The original 3° Fresnel lens, formerly displayed in the fog signal building, is now on loan to the Marquette Maritime Museum in Marquette."
The light tower has intricate fortress
style brick work near its apex (like Old Mackinac Point Light, which is its contemporary), supporting an octagonal lantern and iron watch room. The light was automated in 1941. The station was sold in 1961 after a new light was erected on a steel tower on the grounds.
.
Red-haired William Prior, who was the first lighthouse keeper at Big Bay point, was devastated when his son, Edward, died of a leg injury. He vanished in 1901 and his body was found almost a year and a half later hanging from a tree about a mile from the lighthouse. He may have committed suicide, or have been murdered. His red-haired ghost has been seen in mirrors, and doors have a tendency to bang in the middle of the night.
The second incident took place in 1952, when the assistant's house was used to train an anti-aircraft battalion. An army officer stationed at the house murdered the owner of a local tavern, inspiring Anatomy of a Murder.
The Light Station is part of the National Park Service's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
. The Au Sable Light Station is on the National Register of Historic Places
, #88001837. It is also on the state list.
It is considered to iconic, and has been the subject of memorabilia including a Needle Point rendition.
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
which stands on a tall bluff over a rocky point near Big Bay, Michigan
Big Bay, Michigan
Big Bay is an unincorporated community in Marquette County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 265...
, approximately 24 miles (39 km) miles northwest of Marquette
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Today it is the only operational lighthouse with a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
. It is reputed to be haunted, and the novel and movie Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
were inspired by a murder rooted at the lighthouse.
History of the light
The establishment of a station at Big Bay PointBig Bay, Michigan
Big Bay is an unincorporated community in Marquette County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 265...
was recommended to the Lighthouse board in 1882 as follows: "The point occupies a position midway between Granite Island
Granite Island (Michigan)
Granite Island is a 2½ acre island in Lake Superior located about northwest of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Posted upon it is the Granite Island Lighthouse, also known as Granite Island Light Station, and is "one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on Lake...
and Huron Islands
Huron Islands
The Huron Islands are a group of eight small, rocky islands in Lake Superior, located about three miles offshore from the mouth of the Huron River in northwestern Marquette County, Michigan. Together they comprise the Huron National Wildlife Refuge, which was established by President Theodore...
, the distance in each case being 15 to 18 miles (29 km). These two lights are invisible from each other and the intervening stretch is unlighted. A light and fog signal would be a protection to steamers passing between these points. Quite a number of vessels have in past years been wrecked on Big Bay Point".
Light station infrastructure
A 20 feet (6.1 m) x 15 feet (4.6 m) brick fog signal building was constructed. It contained two ten-inch (254 mm) steamSteam
Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
train whistle
Train whistle
A train whistle or air whistle, , is an audible signaling device on a steam locomotive used to warn that the train is approaching, and to communicate with rail workers....
s that stuck out of the roof of the building and were operated by steam boilers. In 1928, the steam whistle
Steam whistle
A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound with the aid of live steam, which acts as a vibrating system .- Operation :...
s were replaced in 1928 by a modern air diaphone
Diaphone
For Diaphone, the Noctuid moth species see Diaphone The diaphone was a noisemaking device best known for its use as a foghorn: it could produce deep, powerful tones able to carry a long distance...
.
There were also two small brick privies
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
, a brick building with a metal roof and a door for storing oil for the lens.
On October 20, 1896, the 3rd-order fixed Fresnel lens went into service. It was "fitted with a 3 wick burner same as a 2nd order light and consuming the same quantity of oil". To increase the steady white light, partially screened rotating panels were installed, creating "a brilliant white flash every twenty seconds.' This lens is considered to be sufficiently significant that models have been made and marketed as technological "diamonds" -- "a superior example of mathematical dimension and extraordinary beauty. . . . With its magnificent series of concentric
Concentric
Concentric objects share the same center, axis or origin with one inside the other. Circles, tubes, cylindrical shafts, disks, and spheres may be concentric to one another...
glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
prisms
Prism (optics)
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use...
, the light would reflect back through the central lens -- a perfect example of a 'catadioptric
Catadioptric
A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses and curved mirrors . Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as search lights, headlamps, early lighthouse focusing systems, optical telescopes,...
system."
An office was on the tower's lower level, and it was accessible only from the head keeper's side. Each dwelling had six rooms, including on the first floor a kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
, parlor and dining room
Dining room
A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...
. and on the second floor three bedrooms. Each side had a basement cistern to collect water from the roof eaves and a pump in the kitchen to get water from the cistern to the sink for washing dishes. When paint contamination of the cisterns was discovered, water was fetched frorm the lake in 5 gallon buckets.
The aid to navigation was deactivated and sold to private owners. In 1990 the original Fresnel lens was recovered and reinstalled, and is on exhibit.
Private home
In 1961, the lighthouse, and 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) were sold by sealed bid to Dr. Jon Pick, a plastic surgeon from Chicago. The purchase price was $40,000. Six years of abandonment meant that most of the roof was missing, windows broken and the walls were denuded of most of the plaster. Layers of paint needed to be scraped. Dr. Pick's attempt to turn it into a summer home encompassed 17 years of construction and renovation, including upgrading or installing inside plumbing, electricity and a modern heating system. Many rooms were replastered. The duplex was integrated into one large building. Period antiques and travel mementos were placed.Bed and breakfast
In 1979, in his 80s and in poor health, the doctor sold the dream keeperLighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning...
's house to Dan Hitchens of Traverse City. Mr. Hitchens added bathrooms and executive meeting rooms, intending to convert the place to a bed and breakfast.
Five years later, Hitchens sold the lighthouse to an investment group of whom the managing owners were Norman "Buck" Gotschall, and his wife Mrs. Gotschall. Bed-and-breakfast amenities were added, the fog signal building was reopened, additional acreage acquired, and hiking trails opened. The new bed-and-breakfast opened in 1986.
Nearing retirement, the Gotschalls and their partners decided to sell, and in March 1992 the lighthouse was purchased by the fourth and present (as of 2009) owners, three avid preservationists from the Chicago area. John Gale, Linda Gamble, and Jeff Gamble had been guests at the B&B and fell in love with the lighthouse and the tiny hamlet of Big Bay on their first visit.
The light was built in 1896 at a cost of $25,000. It was automated in 1944. In 1961 the lighthouse was sold to John Pick for $40,000. Dr. Pick had it restored and furnished with antiques. It was set up originally as a duplex, so it would have quarters for two keepers and their families. It has been a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
since 1986.
Access to the grounds and tours of the light (and fog horn building) are available.
Because of its picturesque location, form and color it is often the subject of photographs, and many drawings.
Big Bay Point Light is one of more than 150 past and present lighthouses in Michigan. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state. See Lighthouses in the United States
Lighthouses in the United States
This is a list of lighthouses in the United States. The United States has had approximately a thousand lights as well as light towers, range lights, and pier head lights...
.
Life at the light
The keeper's house consists of 18 rooms in a 52' x 52' two story brick building. The attached tower is tall enough to make the light 105' above Lake SuperiorLake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
. Originally, this housed the keeper
Lighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning...
(and his family) and an assistant keeper with family as well. As the country moved to 8 hour shifts, a frame building with outhouse was built at the bottom of the hill for a second assistant keeper.
At the time the light was built the only way to get to and from the aid to navigation was by water. Those who worked at Big Bay Point were truly isolated. The keepers' wives not only had to do the usual housekeeping and food preparation, but also schooling of any children in residence.
Other structures on the site include two cisterns, an oil house, a garage, 2 brick outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
s, a dock. a well house and a brick fog signal building, which housed the original Fresnel lens
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...
for display. However, another source opines that: "The original 3° Fresnel lens, formerly displayed in the fog signal building, is now on loan to the Marquette Maritime Museum in Marquette."
The light tower has intricate fortress
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
style brick work near its apex (like Old Mackinac Point Light, which is its contemporary), supporting an octagonal lantern and iron watch room. The light was automated in 1941. The station was sold in 1961 after a new light was erected on a steel tower on the grounds.
Notable deaths at the light
There have been at least two notable deaths associated with the lighthouse, which have given rise to the belief that the light is haunted, and have inspired the book and movie Anatomy of a MurderAnatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
.
Red-haired William Prior, who was the first lighthouse keeper at Big Bay point, was devastated when his son, Edward, died of a leg injury. He vanished in 1901 and his body was found almost a year and a half later hanging from a tree about a mile from the lighthouse. He may have committed suicide, or have been murdered. His red-haired ghost has been seen in mirrors, and doors have a tendency to bang in the middle of the night.
The second incident took place in 1952, when the assistant's house was used to train an anti-aircraft battalion. An army officer stationed at the house murdered the owner of a local tavern, inspiring Anatomy of a Murder.
Current status
Effective November 12, 1988, the site is listed on the National Inventory of Historic Places, Reference #88001837 Name of Listing: BIG BAY POINT LIGHT STATION. It is also listed on the state list.The Light Station is part of the National Park Service's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles along the shore and covers...
. The Au Sable Light Station is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, #88001837. It is also on the state list.
It is considered to iconic, and has been the subject of memorabilia including a Needle Point rendition.
Specialized further reading
- Hermanson, Don, True Lighthouse Hauntings, Revisited including Big Bay Point Light.
- Stonehouse, Frederick. Marquette Shipwrecks. Marquette, MI: Harboridge Press, 1974.
- Wagner, John L., Michigan Lighthouses: An Aerial Photographic Perspective -- Big Bay Point Lighthouse (East Lansing, Michigan: John L. Wagner, 1998) ISBN 1-880311-01-1 ISBN 978-1-880311-01-1.
External links
- Aerial photos, Marinas.com
- Details about the bed-and breakfast at Big Bay Point Light, including a virtual tour.
- Complete list of keepers at Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light.
- Michigan Organizations, Big Bay Point Light.
- Photograph Big Bay Point Lighthouse.
- Photograph of Big Bay Point Lighthouse, showing the cliff. Pure MichiganPure MichiganPure Michigan is the nationally known brand of the State of Michigan, administered by the state's marketing arm, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation...
. - Pictures, waypoints and directions to the Lighthouse.
- Satellite view at Google mapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
.
