Lighthouse Voyage - Part 11

[Tannerman]

Manistee Pierhead
Manistee, MI - Lighthouse 9 of 15

Our plans were to spend the night in Ludington, MI, since that's the port for the car ferry across Lake Michigan. Having just visited Big Sable Point in Ludington State Park, you would have thought we were through for the day. Not so! Thus we drove about 25 miles north to the Victorian-styled town of Manistee, MI to see the Manistee Pierhead lighthouse.


The Manistee River connects Lake Michigan and Manistee Lake, and the town is located right next to it. A unique element of this town are the two drawbridges that span the river. It also features an extensive riverwalk that people love to congregate. Many authentic Victorian buildings are found in this town, one dating back to the late 1800's.


What had started as a pretty stormy day with rain and clouds was quickly becoming a beautiful evening. The sun came out and as we pulled into Manistee, there was some breathtaking views by the water.


The only problem was that we had a hard time actually getting to the lighthouse. The directions I had put us across the harbor from it, so we ended up driving through some pretty wacky roads to find a way to walk on the beacon breakwater itself. Eventually, we found ourselves in a parking lot next to the beach and proceeded to the lighthouse.


Manistee is the final of the four lighthouses in Michigan that still have their catwalk superstructure in place. What's different, however, is that Manistee's catwalk is actually in the National Register of Historic Places. Thus they have boards on the catwalk setup to look exactly how it did back in 1921, when this lighthouse was erected.


Like other light stations on the lake, this location was put in place to aid those shipping lumber. It is actually the second lighthouse erected in town. The first was built on the shore in 1870. When the breakwater was extended, the old lighthouse no longer served a purpose. The building was moved into town to make way for a large condominium complex in 1993.


The sun was starting to set and we couldn't believe how great the weather had become. It was still extremely windy, which made for a challenge when trying to take a photo together with the lighthouse. We spent some time playing on the beach as well, which contained many pieces of playground equipment, including an extremely tall metal slide made by American Playground.


Metal Slides at Phantom Ranch (2000)
(Large slide in background later removed)
We used to have two of those up at Phantom Ranch that were in the water on the lake... a short one and a really tall one. Eventually the large one deteriorated in the last year or so and camp junked it. Of course, they've come up with no real replacement for it, other than a lot of inflatable stuff. I mean, that would cost money, and why spend money on something that campers will enjoy? (Sarcasm mode: off!) Nothing beats a large slide in the lake! Nevertheless, I climbed the slide on Manistee's beach and went down it for old time's sake.

The sun was continuing to fall over the horizon, so we headed back to Ludington for our final lighthouse stop of the day!

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