Great Lakes Lighthouses

What does The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides Collection have to do with Colonial America? Nothing. But ...

Founding CQ author, Carrie Fancett Pagels and I are both authors in this upcoming collection that releases in November. 

Carrie and I both love the Great Lakes and there is a lot of Colonial history here. However, the first Great Lakes lighthouse was not erected until 1825 in what would become the state of Michigan at Fort Gratiot.

Faster, cheaper, and free from attacks by Natives, shipping on the Great Lakes was the answer to moving a lot of people and materials in and out of the northern Great Plains. But it wasn't necessarily safer. Rocks, shoals, islands, and other obstacles - many of them difficult or impossible to see in the dark or during bad weather -  ripped open the hulls of unsuspecting ships.

Lighthouses were the answer, and they popped up along the shorelines of the Great Lakes in amazing numbers from 1850 - 1860. Construction slowed during the Civil War, only to increase with even more lighthouses build between 1870 - 1925. 

Along the shorelines, on riverbanks, and on islands that dot our great inland seas, many of these lighthouses still stand tall and strong and still guide vessels along their way. New technology has replaced the lonely lighthouse keepers, but many of the buildings are open to tourists and include an intriguing glimpse into the past.

If you're roaming around the Great Lakes, take time to visit one of these lighthouses. You won't regret it!

Pegg Thomas
Writing History with a Touch of Humor