Peninsula Point Light
Moving onto the last lighthouse from my trip to Escanaba… the Peninsula Point Light! So the locals call this the Stonington Lighthouse, and I was getting so confused… like am I missing a lighthouse during this trip?! But it’s because it’s out on Stonington Peninsula! So first, it takes about 30 minutes to go down the peninsula and down a narrow dirt road before you reach the lighthouse. Second, this tower is all that remains after a fire and demolition. You can open the door, and climb up by yourself, for a gorgeous view of the bay. Third, this is the only place you can spot the Minneapolis Shoal Light from shore (it’s so distant, but I was able to snap a picture on the furthest zoom!) and…. fourth, this is a gathering place for monarch butterflies each fall where they rest before continuing south across Lake Michigan on their annual migration to Mexico. Long story short, this is such a special place.
A yellow brick lighthouse was built in 1865, consisting of a square, forty-foot-tall tower attached to a keeper’s dwelling. You can see how it originally looked here in this photo! After the Minneapolis Shoal Lighthouse was established in 1936, this lighthouse was later discontinued that year. Unfortunately the keeper’s quarters burned in 1959, and the shell of the keeper’s dwelling was later removed, leaving just the tower standing. But if you walk around to the north side of the tower, you can see signs where the foundation used to be. I always love these kinds of lighthouses — the unique ones that are an adventure to get to, where you can climb the tower yourself, where it’s sort of desolate. Except when I went, it was so busy! Tons of tourists (which you wouldn’t know from these photos) but I’m sure a lot of them were there to see the butterflies!
After my adventure here at Peninsula Point Light, I made my way back home to Grand Rapids! I stopped in Mackinaw City for lunch (and fudge, of course). I was worried about hitting traffic because of the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk, but I got super lucky and hit the bridge right at the time that everything cleared up. It didn’t even feel that busy in Mackinaw City! So I went to lunch at Dixie Saloon (one of my faves when visiting the city), picked up a slab of plain peanut butter fudge from Joann's Fudge, and made my way home! I’ll be back with one more post from Escanaba recapping some of the places I ate, what I saw, where I wine-tasted, etc. so stay tuned for that. And then I’ll be moving onto posts from my trip to Springfield, Ohio! Thennnn I can finally move into autumn, haha! My goal is to have October just be autumn, autumn, autumn around here! 🍂
