The Sand Island Light is a lighthouse

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....

 located on the northern tip of Sand Island

Sand Island (Wisconsin)

Sand Island is one of the Apostle Islands, in northern Wisconsin, in Lake Superior, and is part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The Sand Island Light is located on the island...

, one of the Apostle Islands

Apostle Islands

The Apostle Islands are a group of 22 islands in Lake Superior, off the Bayfield Peninsula in northern Wisconsin. The majority of the islands are located in Ashland County—only Sand, York, Eagle, and Raspberry Islands are located in Bayfield County...

, in Lake Superior

Lake 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...

 in Bayfield County, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, near the city of Bayfield

Bayfield, Wisconsin

Bayfield is a city in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 611 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Henry Bayfield, a British Royal Topographic Engineer who explored the region in 1822-23....

.

The Lighthouse Board chose to use a design that had been used: on McGulpin Point Light

McGulpin Point Light

McGulpin Point Light was constructed as a navigational aid through the Straits of Mackinac. The light began operation in 1869, making it one of the oldest surviving lighthouses in the Straits...

 in 1868; Eagle Harbor Light in 1871; and White River Light in 1875.

Currently owned by the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 and part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore consisting of 21 islands and shoreline encompassing 69,372 acres on the northern tip of Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior....

, it was added to 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...

 in 1977, part of reference number 77000145. Listed in the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

 Historic American Buildings Survey

Historic American Buildings Survey

The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...

, WI-313.

Attached to the lighthouse is a Norman gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 keepers quarters.

Getting there

Most of the Apostle Islands light stations may be reached on the Apostle Islands Cruise Service water taxi or by private boat during the summer. During the Annual Apostle Island Lighthouse Celebration ferry tour service is available for all the lighthouses. In the tourist season, volunteer park rangers are on the many of the islands to greet visitors.

See also

• Wisconsin lighthouses
• Apostle Islands Lighthouses
  Apostle Islands Lighthouses
  The Apostle Islands Lighthouses are a group of six lighthouses, located in the Apostle Islands, Wisconsin and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as reference number 77000145....
  
  

Further reading

• Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers
  Macmillan Publishers
  Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
  
  .
• Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
• Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1-55046-399-3.

External links

• Aerial photos of Sand Island Light, Marina.com.
• Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Survey number HABS WI-313
• Lighthouse tour preview: September, 2005 VIP photo.
• Lighthouse friends Sand Island article.
• Sand Island Light Station, NPS.
• National Park Service
  National Park Service
  The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
  
  , Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin, Sand Island Light.
• Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Island Light.
• Wobser, David, Sand Island Lights, boatnerd.com. originally in Great Laker Magazine.