Sand Hills Light

Sand Hills Light
Location	Ahmeek, Michigan
Coordinates	47°23′31″N 88°22′13.5″W / 47.39194°N 88.370417°W
Tower
Constructed	1919
Construction	Yellow brick
Automated	1939
Height	91 feet (28 m)
Shape	Square
Markings	natural with black lantern and trim
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1919
Deactivated	1954
Focal height	93 feet (28 m)
Lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens with bullseye
Range	16 nautical miles; 29 kilometres (18 mi)
	Sand Hills Light Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Mohawk, Michigan
Area	55 acres (22 ha)
Architect	Park, Charles A.
Architectural style	Classical Revival
NRHP reference No.	94000746
Added to NRHP	July 27, 1994

Sand Hills was an active lighthouse on the shore of Lake Superior is on private property and is currently closed to the public. It is located in Ahmeek in Keweenaw County in the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is the northern part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

History

From 1857 to 1908, Eagle River Light was the only lighthouse between the Keweenaw Waterway and Eagle Harbor Light. With the end of the copper boom in the 1870s the Eagle River, Michigan harbor started to decay. "By the 1890s, it seemed the only ship coming into the harbor was the lighthouse service tender." It was recommended to build a new lighthouse at Sand Hills where most of the lake traffic passing and to decommission Eagle River.^[7]

A lighthouse at Sand Hills was authorized by Congress in 1893, but no funds were allocated for its construction. Meanwhile, the Eagle River Light was decommissioned and sold in 1908, leaving no navigation light in the area. Sand Hills Light was finally commissioned in 1917, in part as a response to a number of ships that had run aground on the nearby Sawtooth Reef since the dismantling of the light at Eagle River. Sand Hills is about halfway between Eagle Harbor Light and Ontonagon, Michigan.^[8]

The lighthouse was completed in May 1919 and was in service for 20 years as a manned aid to navigation operated by 3 keepers.^[9] The site includes an oil house, garage, barracks building (1916, and used in World War II, and a concrete breakwater (1917).^[10]

The station originally had a Fourth Order bullseye lens lighted by an oil vapor lamp, which was visible for 9.6 nautical miles; 18 kilometres (11 mi).^[11]

In 1939, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the Lighthouse and automated its use, eliminating the need for keepers.

In 1942, it was converted to a wartime Coast Guard training facility, housing and schooling roughly 200 trainees at a time. In 1943 it was closed as a training location and reverted to being simply a lighthouse.

It continued as an active lighthouse until 1954, when it was decommissioned,^[12] in part due to improvements in weather forecasting and the adoption of radar.

It stayed empty and idle through the next few years, finally being liquidated and sold at public auction in 1958 for $26,000 to H. Donald Bliss, an insurance agent from the Detroit area.

In 1961, it was sold again to Bill Frabotta, a Detroit photographer and artist who used the fog station as a summer cottage. In 1992, Mr. Frabotta began a comprehensive 3 year rebuilding project, and along with his wife, Mary, converted the entire facility into a premier Bed and Breakfast Inn, which after a long successful run closed permanently in 2018 and sold in 2019 to local Eagle River resident, Edward “Bud” Cole, owner of the Eagle River Lighthouse, which is the older sister to the Sand Hills Lighthouse.

Edward “Bud” Cole is an international businessman and a historical preservationist with a family lineage in the Keweenaw going back to the 1850s. Mr. Cole also owns and stewards the Eagle River Lighthouse and several other historically significant buildings in the historic town of Eagle River, Michigan along with over 1000 contiguous acres surrounding Sand Hills Lighthouse and over 4000 acres of the Eagle River Corridor. Mr. Cole, currently President of Fender Music Asia Pacific since 2014, lives between Tokyo, Japan and Eagle River, Michigan.

The original fourth order Fresnel lens is on display at Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit.^[13]

Sand Hills Light is the "twin" of the ill-fated 1940 Scotch Cap Light on Alaska's Unimak Island.^[5] Scotch Cap Light was destroyed on April 1, 1946 when a massive tsunami struck the station, destroying it and killing its five-man crew,^[14] the worst disaster to ever befall a land-based Coast Guard light station.^[15]^[16]

Getting there

The Lighthouse is located in Ahmeek, Michigan and is closed to the public at this time. .^[17]

The lighthouse is privately owned. The grounds, lighthouse, and property are closed to the public.

References

^ National Park Service Maritime Heritage Project, Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Sand Hills Light.
^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Hills Light, but compare Wobser, David & Colt, Edin, Sand Hills Lighthouse, boatnerd.com which opines it was 9.6 nautical miles; 18 kilometres (11 mi) originally. Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Sand Hills Light Bed and Breakfast, Exploring the North.
^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
^ Lighthouse Central, Sand Hills light The Ultimate Guide to Upper Michigan Lighthouses by Jerry Roach (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - 2007). ISBN 978-0-9747977-2-4.
^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Hills Light.
^ Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, Sand Hills Light.
^ Wobser, David & Colt, Edin, Sand Hills Lighthouse, at Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine boatnerd.com.
^ Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses. Detroit News.
^ Dossin Great Lakes Museum and its Fresnel lens. Archived 2008-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
^ Baker, James, Tsunami at Scotch Cap, March, 2005 Archived 2011-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Lighthouse Digest.
^ "Dowling Dennis, The Demise Of Scotch Cap Light Station". Archived from the original on 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
^ Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse Friends, Big Bay Point Lighthouse.

External links

Media related to Sand Hills Light at Wikimedia Commons
Sand Hills Light on the World List of Lights
Aerial photograph, Sand Hills Light, marinas.com.
Interactive map of lighthouses in central Lake Superior.
Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Hills Light.
Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard.

[1] National Park Service Maritime Heritage Project, Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Sand Hills Light.

[2] Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.

[3] Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.

[4] Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Hills Light, but compare Wobser, David & Colt, Edin, Sand Hills Lighthouse, boatnerd.com which opines it was 9.6 nautical miles; 18 kilometres (11 mi) originally. Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine

[Exploring-5] Sand Hills Light Bed and Breakfast, Exploring the North.

[nris-6] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

[7] "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.

[8] Lighthouse Central, Sand Hills light The Ultimate Guide to Upper Michigan Lighthouses by Jerry Roach (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - 2007). ISBN 978-0-9747977-2-4.

[9] Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Sand Hills Light.

[10] Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, Sand Hills Light.

[wobser-11] Wobser, David & Colt, Edin, Sand Hills Lighthouse, at Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine boatnerd.com.

[12] Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses. Detroit News.

[13] Dossin Great Lakes Museum and its Fresnel lens. Archived 2008-04-19 at the Wayback Machine

[14] Baker, James, Tsunami at Scotch Cap, March, 2005 Archived 2011-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Lighthouse Digest.

[15] "Dowling Dennis, The Demise Of Scotch Cap Light Station". Archived from the original on 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

[16] Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[friends-17] Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse Friends, Big Bay Point Lighthouse.

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v t e Lighthouses in Michigan
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Light Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island Wawatam
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan Wixom Lake, Musselman Island lighthouse

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan
Historic districts	Central Mine Historic District Eagle River Historic District Fort Wilkins Johns Hotel Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and Golf Course Complex Minong Traditional Cultural Property Minong Mine Historic District Tobin Harbor Historic District
Historic properties	SS Algoma SS America (1898) Brockway Mountain Drive Central Mine Methodist Church SS Chester A. Congdon Church of the Assumption Copper Harbor Light PS Cumberland Eagle Harbor Coast Guard Station Boathouse Eagle Harbor Light Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse Edisen Fishery SS Emperor USS Puritan (ID-2222) SS Glenlyon Gull Rock Light Station SS Henry Chisholm Holy Redeemer Church Houghton County Traction Company Ahmeek Streetcar Station Ishpeming Fire Tower Isle Royale Light SS Kamloops M-26–Cedar Creek Culvert M-26–Silver River Culvert Manitou Island Light Station SS Monarch New Feldtmann Fire Tower Ojibway Fire Tower Passage Island Light Rock Harbor Light Rock of Ages Light Sand Hills Light US 41–Fanny Hooe Creek Bridge
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Keweenaw County, Michigan and List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan

Sand Hills Light

History

Getting there

See also

References

External links

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