The settling of what is now Leelanau County began with settlers arriving by the only way possible: water. With the State Road into Leelanau County not completed until 1862, boat traffic was the only means to bring the county's pioneers to the area, and with the boat traffic, it was necessary to build aids to navigation for the safety of the waterways. Congress had created the U.S. Lighthouse Service to carry out this important function, and Leelanau County has some of these beacons in its own jurisdiction. It should be noted here that the U.S. Lighthouse Service was consolidated with the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939, taking over the duty to care for these navigational aids.

The first lighthouse in what is now Leelanau County was built in 1839 on South Manitou Island. It was also the first lighthouse on the Great Lakes, and was a wooden structure. In 1858, it was rebuilt, and operated until 1958 when the lighthouse and Coast Guard Station, established in 1902 (as the U.S. Life Saving Service) were closed. Ironically, two years after the closing of the South Manitou Lighthouse, a freighter named the Francisco Morazan struck a shoal off the southern shore of the island and sank in a blizzard on the night of November 29, 1960. The crew was rescued, and what is left of the ship can still be seen today. The lighthouse is now operated as a museum by the National Park Service.

Leelanau County's second lighthouse, a 47 foot-high brick tower, was built in 1852 at Cat Head Point, the tip of the Leelanau peninsula. Originally called Cat's Head Light, it was later named Grand Traverse Lighthouse. The light and the lightkeeper's house were two separate structures until 1864 when the tower was replaced by a lighthouse and residence combined. In 1916, this structure was remodeled and was eventually replaced with an automated light. Grand Traverse Lighthouse today is a museum and gift shop, and as visitors climb the spiral stairway to the light tower they can see on the wall a piece of the SS Carl D. Bradley that went down in a storm on Lake Michigan in November 1958.

The third lighthouse in the county, a tower 90 feet high, was built in 1867 on South Fox Island, due to its proximity to the Manitou Passage. The U.S. Lighthouse Service rebuilt the structure in 1934, and the U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1959. The Coast Guard is still responsible for maintaining and operating it and all other automated lights today.

Lighthouse number 4 was built on North Manitou Island in 1878. 200 feet back from the shore, the tower was 50 feet high. In 1931 the light was automated. It was abandoned in 1935 when the South Manitou Shoal Light was built, known by its nickname 'The Crib'. Sadly, the North Manitou Island Lighthouse was wrecked and pulled into Lake Michigan by a strong late autumn storm in 1942, leaving only the lightkeeper's brick dwelling. In 1980, The Crib, which flashes a red light 80 feet above water level, became an automated light.

In 1934 and 1935, another aid to navigation was in place in the Manitou Passage. The Lightship Huron, a 'floating lighthouse' (also called Lightship 103) was assigned to the passage, assisting the automated light on North Manitou Island. The ship had a light mounted on the top of its mast, and also had a foghorn of some kind installed. When the South Manitou Shoal Light was completed, Lightship Huron was reassigned elsewhere, and is today a floating museum in Port Huron, Michigan.

~ Thomas Baird