Outer Island Light facts for kids
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 Outer Island Light
Location in Wisconsin
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| Location | Wisconsin |
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| Coordinates | 47°04′35.5″N 90°25′00.11″W / 47.076528°N 90.4166972°W |
| Year first lit | 1874 |
| Automated | 1961 |
| Foundation | Stone |
| Construction | Brick with Italianate bracketing |
| Tower shape | Frustum of a cone with attached brownstone keeper's house |
| Markings / pattern | White with black trim and lantern |
| Height | 90 feet (27 m) |
| Focal height | 130 feet (40 m) |
| Original lens | Third-order Fresnel lens |
| Current lens | solar powered Vega VRB-25 |
| Range | 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) |
| Characteristic | White, flashing, 10 sec |
| ARLHS number | USA-572 |
| USCG number | 7-15255 |
The Outer Island lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the northern tip of Outer Island, one of the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior in Ashland County, Wisconsin, near the city of Bayfield.
The light was designed by United States Lighthouse Board Eleventh District Chief Engineer Orlando Poe and constructed under the supervision of his successor, Godfrey Weitzel.
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 1977, part of reference number 77000145. It is listed in the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey, WI-318. The lighthouse is attached to a two-story, red brick keeper's quarters.
Access
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.
Erosion control
In 2004–2005, the National Park Service undertook a significant erosion control project at Outer Island, to stabilize the bluff which had proved susceptible to erosion since the station's earliest days. The project followed a similar effort completed the previous year at the Raspberry Island Lighthouse, and consisted of a three-part strategy: armoring the cliff base with a massive stone wall; improving drainage on the upper grounds to prevent runoff from undercutting the clay bank; and stabilizing the bluff face with "bio-engineering," i.e. planting carefully selected vegetation to anchor the slope. The rock wall at the bottom and drainage system at the top were completed, but a shortage of funds required scaling back the bio-engineering plans, and only the most critical sections of the bluff face were treated.
