Old Mackinac Point: The Castle the Bridge Made Obsolete

At the very tip of the Lower Peninsula, where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet, stands a lighthouse that looks like a small medieval castle. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, with its round turreted tower and attached keeper’s dwelling, has guarded the Straits of Mackinac — one of the foggiest, most treacherous crossroads on the Great Lakes — since 1892.

For decades it did vital work, its beam and its booming fog signal helping ships feel their way through the murk of the Straits. But its story has a poignant twist that’s pure Michigan. In 1957, the magnificent new Mackinac Bridge opened directly overhead, soaring across the water between the peninsulas. The bridge’s own lights, strung five miles across the Straits, made the little lighthouse unnecessary — and that same year, its light went dark.

Happily, it wasn’t the end. The state acquired the “Castle of the Straits,” and after a major restoration it reopened in 2004 as a maritime museum. Today you can tour the restored keeper’s quarters, see its original lens, and climb the tower for a postcard view of the very bridge that retired it.