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The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The state of Michigan comes in two parts: the Lower Peninsula (between Lakes Huron and Michigan) and the Upper Peninsula (between Lakes Michigan and Superior). Putting the two together, the state has an astonishingly long coastline, so it is not surprising that Michigan has more lighthouses than any other U.S. state, by quite a large margin. The Directory has information on more than 130 sites. This lighthouse heritage is well recognized. Michigan is the only state that supports lighthouse preservation with a program of annual grants from the state to local preservation groups. All over the state, volunteers are working hard to save and restore lighthouses. There is a state preservation society, the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, and the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association is also based in the state. Michigan was organized as a territory in 1805 and admitted to the union as the 26th state in 1837. This page includes lighthouses of the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula and the islands of northern Lake Michigan, from Benzie County to the Straits on=f Mackinac. Aids to navigation in Michigan are maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District, but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. Lights from the Indiana border through the Fox Islands are the responsibility of the Aids to Navigation (ATN) team at Muskegon, while those in the northern end of the lake are the responsibility of the ATN team at Sault Sainte Marie in the Upper Peninsula. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. USCG numbers are from Volume VII of the United States Coast Guard Light List.
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![]() 1867 South Fox Island Light, Leelanau County, August 2024 Facebook pboto posted by Fox Island Lighthouse Association |
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Information available on lost lighthouses
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southern Upper Peninsula | East: Northeastern Lower Peninsula | South : Western Lower Peninsula
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index
Checked and revised January 1, 2025. Lighthouses: 27. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.