White River Light

White River Light
Tower
White River Light Station, Source: U.S. Coast Guard Archives

Location	Near Whitehall, Michigan
Coordinates	43°22′29″N 86°25′28″W / 43.37473°N 86.42433°W / 43.37473; -86.42433
Construction	'Norman Gothic Style' ^[3]
Automated	1918 ^[1]
Height	11.5 m (38 ft)
Shape	Octagonal
Markings	Cream yellow brick

Light
First lit	1872 South Pier, 1876 Main Tower
Deactivated	1960
Lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Range	Visible for about 14 miles (23 km)
Characteristic	Original lens a fixed white light with a red flash once each minute. 1912, light flashed white for 10 seconds then dark for 10 seconds & repeated.^[2]

The White River Light is a lighthouse on Lake Michigan near the city of Whitehall, Michigan. It sits on a thin peninsula of land separating Lake Michigan from White Lake. The building was built in 1875.

Some of the buildings in existence for the lightstation consisted of the tower and attached dwelling, the South Pier-head Beacon light, oil house, woodshed or storage building and Privy.^[4] It is one of four lighthouses that are operated by the Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association.

Captain William Robinson was the first lighthouse keeper, working there for 47 years. He lived there with his wife and thirteen children. His residence was built out of limestone, the same material as that the forty foot octagonal tower connected to it was built out of. Towards the end of his life, Robinson walked with a cane. The lighthouse is said to be haunted, with people hearing the tapping of Robinson's cane.^[5] Frances Marshall, known as the last female lighthouse keeper in Michigan, worked there after his service.^[6]

The lighthouse served as a guide to the river until 1960, when it was decommissioned. Fruitland Township acquired the lighthouse in 1966 and built a museum in 1970.^[7]^[6] Visitors can climb the spiral staircase or look at the original Fourth Order Fresnel lens.^[6] It is open to the public as a museum with regular hours posted from Memorial Weekend through August 31. The lighthouse is also open through September and October with reduced hours. The museum has a number of artifacts from the passenger and freight shipping on the lakes in addition to information on the light itself.

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Notes

^ Tag, Thomas A., White River Light Station, Softcover (Dayton, OH: Data Image, 1996) p. 30 & 37. ISBN 0-9649980-2-5
^ Tag, Thomas A., White River Light Station, Softcover (Dayton, OH: Data Image, 1996) p. 35 & 37. ISBN 0-9649980-2-5
^ Tag, Thomas A., White River Light Station, Softcover (Dayton, OH: Data Image, 1996) p. 21. ISBN 0-9649980-2-5
^ Thomas A. Tag (1996) White River Light Station, Softcover (Dayton, OH: Data Image, 1996) p.8. ISBN 0-9649980-2-5
^ Ray Jones (3 August 2010). Haunted Lighthouses: Phantom Keepers, Ghostly Shipwrecks, and Sinister Calls From the Deep. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-7627-6642-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c "White River Light Station". Visit Ludington. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
^ Ross Holland, Jr., F. (1994). Great American Lighthouses. Preservation Press. p. 240. ISBN 9780471143871.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to White River Lighthouse.

Official Site for the White River Lighthouse Museum Archived 2005-11-24 at the Wayback Machine
Beacons in the Night, Michigan Lighthouse Chronology, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.
Lighthouse Central, Photographs, History, Directions and Way points for White River Light, The Ultimate Guide to West Michigan Lighthouses by Jerry Roach (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - 2005). ISBN 0-9747977-0-7.
White River Light Page from Seeing the Light
Page from Maritime Heritage Program's Inventory of Historic Light Stations Archived 2005-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
"Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
White River Light Page at Lighthousefreinds.com
White River Page from Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy
White River Lighthouse - United States Lighthouses

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

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This page was last edited on 14 August 2023, at 01:36

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