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La Pointe Light
Longlite.jpg
La Pointe Light is located in Wisconsin
La Pointe Light
La Pointe Light
Location in Wisconsin
Location Long Island, Wisconsin
Coordinates 46°43′43.2″N 90°47′6.4″W / 46.728667°N 90.785111°W / 46.728667; -90.785111
Year first constructed 1896
Year first lit 1896
Automated 1964
Foundation Concrete
Construction Cast iron
Tower shape White, Skeletal with a central column
Height 65 feet (20 m)
Focal height 70 feet (21 m)
Original lens Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens 12-inch (300 mm)Tideland Signal ML-300 Acrylic Optic
Range 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)
Characteristic Green, Isophase (Equal interval), 6 sec
ARLHS number USA-423
USCG number 7-15280

The La Pointe Light is a lighthouse located on Long Island, one of the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior in Ashland County, Wisconsin, near the city of Bayfield.

Currently owned by the National Park Service and part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, as reference number 83003366. Listed in the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, WI-325 and WI-325-A. One of the oldest skeletal lighthouses on the Great Lakes, it played an important role in transportation on Lake Superior.

USCGlapointelight
USCG archive photo

A square wooden tower, constructed in 1858, was located around 3,000 feet (910 m) west of the current light. The previous lens was moved to the Chequamegon Point Lighthouse in 1897. It is one of the Apostle Islands Lighthouses.

Getting there

Most of the Apostle Islands light stations may be reached on the Apostle Islands Cruise Service water taxi or by private boat during the summer. During the Annual Apostle Island Lighthouse Celebration ferry tour service is available for all the lighthouses. In the tourist season, volunteer park rangers are on many of the islands to greet visitors.

  • Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers.
  • Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN: 0-932212-98-0.
  • Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN: 1-55046-399-3.
  • National Park Service Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin, La Pointe Light.
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