Jan Turosky, a Lighthouse Keeper from the Grand Traverse Lighthouse talked to the club on June 08, 2023, about The Grand Traverse Lighthouse.
Jan described in making their way between the Manitou Passage and the Straits of Mackinac, vessel masters made a turn off the northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. Also serving as a marker for vessels turning into Grand Traverse Bay, the point thus served as an important navigational marker, and 1849 saw the first recommendation to erect a light on Cat’s Head Point in 1849.
Congress responded with an appropriation of $4,000 for building the new lighthouse on September 28, 1850. Construction began in the spring of 1852, and was completed late that year. Built on low ground close to the water’s edge. David Moon was appointed as the station’s first keeper, and with his name appearing on district payroll records for the first time on September 7, it is likely that he exhibited the new light for the first time soon thereafter. However, it would appear that Moon was ill-suited for the rigors of lighthouse keeping, as he resigned from lighthouse service before his second season at the light, to be replaced by the indomitable Philo Beers on April 15, 1853.
Beer’s previous service as a US Deputy appears to have come in handy, as the lighthouse was reportedly raided on a number of occasions by Mormon Pirates. Followers of James Jesse Strang, the self-proclaimed King of Beaver Island, these pirates were reputed to consider themselves above common law, and as such felt free to avail themselves of anything they needed by raiding from area “Gentiles,” as non-believers were known. On one occasion, it is reported that Beers managed to drive off a group of Mormons who attempted to remove the station’s Fresnel lens for installation on Beaver Island.
The old tower and dwelling were demolished in 1858, and work on a new structure began on higher ground on the point.
Life at the Grand Traverse Light station settled into a routine, with no mention of any repairs appearing in official documents until 1869.
With increasing numbers of vessels rounding the point on their journey to and from the Straits, mariners became increasingly dependent on the Grand Traverse Light to mark the turn. With thick fog frequently blanketing the area, the Lighthouse Board recommended that an appropriation of $5,500 be made to cover the costs of such an installation in its 1895 annual report, and Congress responded with the necessary appropriation on July 1, 1898. Plans and specifications for the structure were finalized over the winter, and contracts awarded for the construction materials and signal machinery on January 10, 1899. A work crew and materials were delivered at the station late that summer, and by November the brick building was complete and work turned to the installation of the fog signal plant. The boilers and machinery were moved into the building and plumbed to the ten-inch locomotive whistle which protruded from the lakeward end wall of the building. Work continued through the end of the year, with the signal officially placed into service on December 20.
With the establishment of the fog signal, it was determined that the workload at Grand Traverse would be more than a single keeper could handle, and the decision was made to add a First Assistant Keeper at the station. However, with the main lighthouse building being designed for a single family, additional accommodations were needed. Thus, in 1901 the dwelling was significantly enlarged and remodeled to convert the dwelling into a duplex with accommodations for two families.
The boilers and whistle in the fog signal were removed in 1933, and replaced by a Type “F” diaphone fog signal, its air compressor powered by diesel engines. The diesel engines were in turn replaced by a 440-volt Worthington air compressor in 1953. Coast Guard crews continued to maintain the station until 1972, when the tower light was replaced by an automated beacon mounted on a steel skeletal tower.
The Lighthouse and Fog Signal Building stood vacant after closing, until 1985 when a local group organized the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Foundation (that’s us!) with a goal of preserving the historic buildings and creating an interesting and educational “living lighthouse” for the public to enjoy. After two years of renovation, the Lighthouse Foundation reopened the station as a museum on Memorial Day in 1987.