Huron Harbor Lighthouse — Attraction in Huron

From Michigan and Great Lakes Lighthouse group:"The mouth of the Huron River on Lake Erie was one of the first ports of Ohio to be settled around 1749. The area around the Huron River soon became a large settlement. By 1824, a small boarding house and several logs cabins had been built. As commerce increased, so too did the need for a navigational aid at the port. The first Huron Harbor Lighthouse was built in 1835 on the west pier which extended 900 feet into the lake. The depth of the harbor averaged 16 feet for over 6 miles up the river. The lighthouse being constructed of wood was destroyed by a storm in 1854. A new 27 foot tall tower was built of iron in 1857. The bottom portion of the iron tower was open, exposing its circular stairway that led to an enclosed watchroom and lantern room. An elevated walkway was also built so the keeper could access the tower when waves swept over the pier. Funds and land were made available and a keeper’s house was completed in 1873. In 1900, the lower portion of the tower was covered with sheathing and metal shingles and painted white below the lantern room prior to this the tower was black at the base and red at the top. An oil house was built near the tower in 1903. In 1919 a rear light was built at a bend in the west pier 400 yards from the pierhead light. The fixed red rear range light had a focal plane of 71 feet. In 1923 a fog bell was placed in the tower at the end of the pier. In 1928 the front light was powered by electricity and the intensity of the front light was increased. Also at that time the fog bell was replaced by an air diaphone. In 1934 construction began to build a 1,200-foot extension to the west pier and remove 300 feet from the outer end of the east breakwater to widen the entrance to the harbor and create a turning basin in the Huron River. In 1935 a 50 foot square crib was built at the outer end of the west pier to serve as the foundation for a steel lighthouse of a new design. In the mid 30’s a new type of lighthouse was the rage, Art Deco. For the one at Huron it was a square, cylindrical tower on a square fog signal building. The lighthouse stands 72 feet tall and was put into service in April, 1936. A similar one built also that year is located at Conneaut, 120 miles to the NE. The lighthouse originally had a lantern room and after the light was automated in 1972, the tower’s lantern room was removed, and a modern beacon consisting of a solar-powered 375mm lens was installed. Today the light has a focal plane of 80 feet with a range of 12 miles with a red flashing light. The breakwater is used as a fishing pier and the square cement foundation, which was formerly home to the pierhead light is still there as you look out towards the modern light. The cable that supplied electricity to the lighthouse was removed in 2015 when the Coast Guard added solar power to the light. This change resulted in 4 downward-pointing lights that illuminated the exterior of the tower being discontinued. After nearly two years of negotiation with the Coast Guard, the City of Huron received permission to relight the exterior of the tower. Experiments were carried out in 2018, and in 2019, four LED lights were mounted around the base of the lighthouse to illuminate the white tower. The color of the decorative lights can be changed for holidays or special occasions. Dale the last USCG employee there said that If you look on the front of the tower there is a port hole with an awning on it. That is the...

Spontaneous road trip stop on the way home from Cedar Point. First we stopped at the nearby airstream for ice cream and then took an evening walk to the lighthouse. It was dark so although we couldn’t see much on the path, the trail was safe enough to make it to the furthest point. We thought somehow you could walk to the lighthouse itself but unfortunately you can only make it to the nearby pier. We understand why you probably can’t make it to the lighthouse itself but that was slightly disappointing. The dock near the lighthouse has the super binoculars so you can see Cedar Point and the shoreline lit up and night and that was a treat. We appreciated reading about the history of the lighthouse at the start of the trail and at the dock. Definitely a fun little pit stop on...

Stopped here on a trip up to Sandusky. There were dead fish everywhere - covering the beaches and floating in the water. In spite of this, people were swimming in the apparently toxic water. Walked down the walkway to see the lighthouse; the walkway stops very far from the lighthouse, with "no trespassing" signs where it ends, so you can't even get to the lighthouse. As for the lighthouse itself, it's very ugly. There's a historical sign claiming that the lighthouse is "unchanged from when it was first built," and it has a picture of the original lighthouse - which looks much nicer - and they are obviously not remotely the same structure. Weird choice to tell lies like that when you can literally look at the bad ugly lighthouse in front of you and see how...