Kenosha (Southport) Light Station — Attraction in Kenosha

The lighthouse and grounds and museum were nice. Ron, the tour guide was not good.

He demeaned my friend and I (we are women) when talking about the Fresnel lens. He said it involves physics and trigonometry and that we ladies might not be able to keep up. Considering my friend and I both have Computer Science and engineering degrees, that was very insulting.

He mumbled and talked in a very monotone way and once again was rude to me. I am a docent at a lighthouse. He was talking about candle power but I couldn't understand him and thought he said canopower. I said I didn't know what canopower was and his response was 'How can you work at a lighthouse and not know what that is?'. So rude! I finally figured out he meant candle power and asked him if that was what he was talking about. He said yes and that he mumbles.

He also made us stand in one spot and listen for 20 minutes. It was hard on my back and hip and my friend's knee. I finally stated I needed to move around more instead of just standing and he said he was almost done...but then just kept talking.

Our tour would have been better if we had just self guided all the way. A friend at the lighthouse I work at said he went to Southport and there was no guide. I told him that was a better way to go through the museum.

Southport is a nice lighthouse to visit, but Ron is not a good representative and is very condescending.

11/12/2024: just a quick update. When I was working at the lighthouse I am a docent for, I was talking to a young man who had been to the Southport lighthouse. I told him I did not have a good experience there because of Ron , and he told me that Ron treated him just as badly as he treated me. They should get a new keeper at the...

On August 17, 2024, my friends and I made a point of visiting this site. The lighthouse was nice and the museum was informative and the displays were nice. The grounds were nicely kept. After that, the rest of the experience was not ideal. The”assistant keeper” and “principal keeper” were not friendly. Didn’t even greet us or even acknowledge us when we walked into the keeper’s quarters. I work at a lighthouse as a historical interpreter/museum educator and was very disappointed in the interaction and lack thereof. As for Ron, the “principal keeper”, his information was not right and even went as far as to make me feel degraded for the knowledge of historical lighthouse operations. Very happy I got my stamp cause I’m not coming back here and will only recommend it to those...

I'm a history nerd and maritime fan so this was something I was looking forward to doing. My friend and I met friendly and knowledgeable tour guides/hosts that had a passion and it showed. We first toured the 2 floors of the house/museum which had neat artifacts, history walls with lots of information, old photographs, model ships, and maps. They also had a cool bedroom upstairs and a downstairs kitchen to view with mid 1800s furnishings.

We next decided to take the plunge and pay the $10 each to go into the actual old lighthouse. Nice original spiral staircase climb and great views at the top...