Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor

Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor
	Pentwater Pier, showing south (left) and north (right) pierhead lights
Location	Pentwater, Michigan, US
Coordinates	43°47′N 86°26′W / 43.78°N 86.44°W
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Pentwater North Pierhead Light
Constructed	1997
Foundation	concrete pier
Construction	cylindrical "D9-type" tower
Height	11 m (36 ft)
Fog signal	3sec every 30sec
Focal height	43 ft (13 m)
Lens	12 inches (300 mm) optic
Range	9 nmi (17 km; 10 mi)
Characteristic	Fl G 2.5s
Pentwater South Pierhead Light
Constructed	1937
Construction	concrete (pier), steel (tower)
Height	10 m (33 ft)
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places contributing property
Focal height	48 ft (15 m)
Lens	12 inches (300 mm) optic
Range	4 nmi (7.4 km; 4.6 mi)
Characteristic	Fl R 4s
	Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	less than 1 acre (0.40 ha)
NRHP reference No.	00001638
Added to NRHP	January 11, 2001
Original light
Constructed	1873
Construction	lumber (artificial physical structure)
Automated	1917
Height	33 ft (10 m)
Deactivated	1937

The Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor are navigational structures located at the west end of Lowell Street in Pentwater, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.^[3]

History

In 1855, Charles Mears constructed a 70-foot-wide (21 m) channel from Pentwater Lake to Lake Michigan, lined with timber cribbing,^[4] to accommodate his lumbering interests.^[5] In 1858, he built a pier extending over 600 feet (180 m) into Lake Michigan where ships could dock.^[6] Additional pier structures were built to line the channel.^[6] The first incarnation of the channel was relatively shallow, but Mears continued to improve it, and by 1865 it was deep enough that a lake-going steamer, the Daylite, was able to sail into Pentwater Lake.^[4]

In 1868 the US government began widening and improving Mears's channel.^[5] The channel was widened to 150 feet (46 m) and dredged to a depth of 16 feet (4.9 m).^[4] Two piers were constructed, and in 1873 a timber-framed lighthouse, 33 feet (10 m) high,^[4] was built on the south pier.^[6] A red 6th-order Fresnel lens was installed.^[4] A life-saving station was constructed on the north pier in 1887,^[5] and in 1917 the pierhead light was automated.^[4]

In 1937, the entire pier structure was replaced by the Army Corps of Engineers with a concrete pier.^[4] At the same time, the timber-framed lighthouse was replaced with a steel skeleton structure,^[6] and the optic replaced with a 12-inch (300 mm) lens.^[4] Most of the life-saving station site, with the exception of the flag tower, was demolished in 1958.^[5] A second light was erected on the north pier in 1997.^[6]

Description

The Pentwater navigational structures consist of two concrete piers extending into Lake Michigan. At the end of the north pier sits a cylindrical modified "D9-type" tower topped with a 300-millimeter flashing green acrylic optic at a focal plane of 43 feet (13 m).^[4] At the end of the south pier sits a steel skeleton tower topped with a 300-millimeter flashing acrylic optic at a focal plane of 48 feet (15 m).^[4]

References

^ "Pentwater Pierhead North (Lake Michigan) Light". The Weidner Publishing Group. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
^ "Pentwater Pierhead South (Lake Michigan) Light". The Weidner Publishing Group. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Pepper, Terry. "Pentwater Pierhead Light". Seeing the Light. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Pentwater History". Pentwater.org. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "History". PentwaterChannel.org. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

[1] "Pentwater Pierhead North (Lake Michigan) Light". The Weidner Publishing Group. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

[2] "Pentwater Pierhead South (Lake Michigan) Light". The Weidner Publishing Group. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

[nris-3] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[pepper-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Pepper, Terry. "Pentwater Pierhead Light". Seeing the Light. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

[hist-5] "Pentwater History". Pentwater.org. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

[pent-6] "History". PentwaterChannel.org. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

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v t e Lighthouses in Michigan
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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
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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

Authority control databases
Pentwater North Pierhead Light	ARLHS MarineTraffic USCG: 7-18620
Pentwater South Pierhead Light	ARLHS MarineTraffic USCG: 7-18630

Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harbor

History

Description

Further reading

References