 U.S. Coast Guard Archive | |
 | |
| Location | Cheboygan County, Michigan, Lake Huron |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°46′24″N 84°8′12″W / 45.77333°N 84.13667°W |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1874 |
| Foundation | cofferdam/timber exposed crib[5] |
| Construction | Monolithic limestone/iron bolts |
| Automated | 1972 |
| Height | 80 feet (24 m)[1] |
| Shape | Frustum of a cone on a rectangular house |
| Markings | natural with red roofs |
| Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place  |
| Fog signal | HORN: air–diaphone[4] |
| Light | |
| First lit | 1874 |
| Focal height | 86 feet (26 m)[2][3] |
| Lens | Second-order Fresnel lens[6] (original), Solar powered 300 mm Tideland Signal acrylic lens (current) |
| Intensity | 400,000 candlepower white; 80,000 candlepower red |
| Range | 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi)[4] |
| Characteristic | Flashing alternately white every 60 seconds, red every 5 seconds. Operates year round. 100 candlepower white winter light which flashes every 5 seconds |
Spectacle Reef Light Station | |
| Nearest city | Benton Township, Michigan |
| Area | 0.9 acres (0.36 ha) |
| Built | 1874 |
| Architect | US Lighthouse Board: Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe, and Major Godfrey Weitzel |
| MPS | U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 05000744[7] |
| Added to NRHP | July 27, 2005 |
Spectacle Reef Light is a lighthouse 11 miles (18 km) east of the Straits of Mackinac and is located at the northern end of Lake Huron, Michigan.[8] It was designed and built by Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Major Godfrey Weitzel,[9] and was the most expensive lighthouse ever built on the Great Lakes.[10]
Because of the challenges of building on a shoal, including laying an underwater crib, it is said to be the "most spectacular engineering achievement" in lighthouse construction on Lake Huron.[10] It took four years to build because weather limited work to mostly the summer season. Workers lived in a structure at the site; one of the limiting conditions. It ranks high as an engineering achievement among all the lighthouses built on the Great lakes.[10]
In 2020, The Spectacle Reef Preservation Society was formed and began to restore the lighthouse.
- ^ Pepper, Terry. "Seeing The Light:Tower Heights". Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ "Inventory of Historic Light Stations – Michigan Lighthouses: Spectacle Reef Light". National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
- ^ a b U.S. Coast Guard, 2007.
- ^ "Spectacle Reef Light". Michigan Lighthouse Fund. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Original Lenses". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Michigan's Eastern Lower Peninsula". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ Wobser, Dave. "Spectacle Reef Light". Lighthouse.Boatnerd.com. Archived from the original on 2006-02-17. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ a b c Hollan, Francis Ross (1988). America's Lighthouses: An illustrated History. Courier Dover Publications. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-486-25576-7. Retrieved June 10, 2009.