Frigid Sunrise at Wawatam Light
Four of us from my camera club decided to visit Michigan's U.P. in search of the Snowy Owl. We left early and before we got up to the hunting grounds, we stopped by St. Ignace to see the sunrise. This area of Lake Huron was not frozen over yet even though it was about -5 degrees this morning. One did not stay outside the car very long with the blowing breeze.
This Wawatam Lighthouse is relatively new for a lighthouse, being put into use in 2006. It sits in the harbor of St. Ignace, Michigan. Originally completely nonfunctional, it was erected in 1998 by the Michigan Department of Transportation near Monroe, Michigan, as an iconic roadside attraction at a welcome center that greeted drivers on NB I-75 (just south of Detroit). After serving in this capacity for six years, the structure was threatened in 2004 when MDOT decided to rebuild the welcome center and demolish the tower. Demolition was averted when the St. Ignace civic leaders for the Straits of Mackinac municipality, which had never had a light tower, heard of the opportunity and asked that the welded steel tower be given to them, this time for use in real life. Over a two-year period, the structure was cut apart, trucked to St. Ignace, and re-erected, this time as a functional aid to navigation with a working light. The "new" lighthouse was re-lighted in St. Ignace in August, 2006. As of 2023, it is one of the final working light towers to be erected in the waters of the United States. [wikipedia]
Frigid Sunrise at Wawatam Light
Four of us from my camera club decided to visit Michigan's U.P. in search of the Snowy Owl. We left early and before we got up to the hunting grounds, we stopped by St. Ignace to see the sunrise. This area of Lake Huron was not frozen over yet even though it was about -5 degrees this morning. One did not stay outside the car very long with the blowing breeze.
This Wawatam Lighthouse is relatively new for a lighthouse, being put into use in 2006. It sits in the harbor of St. Ignace, Michigan. Originally completely nonfunctional, it was erected in 1998 by the Michigan Department of Transportation near Monroe, Michigan, as an iconic roadside attraction at a welcome center that greeted drivers on NB I-75 (just south of Detroit). After serving in this capacity for six years, the structure was threatened in 2004 when MDOT decided to rebuild the welcome center and demolish the tower. Demolition was averted when the St. Ignace civic leaders for the Straits of Mackinac municipality, which had never had a light tower, heard of the opportunity and asked that the welded steel tower be given to them, this time for use in real life. Over a two-year period, the structure was cut apart, trucked to St. Ignace, and re-erected, this time as a functional aid to navigation with a working light. The "new" lighthouse was re-lighted in St. Ignace in August, 2006. As of 2023, it is one of the final working light towers to be erected in the waters of the United States. [wikipedia]