Lighthouse, shipwrecks, and the storm of 1913

Port Sanilac started life as a rough lumber-and-fishing settlement called Bark Shanty Point before it was renamed in 1857. Its landmark is the lighthouse on the bluff — a white brick tower first lit in 1886 that still guides boats along this stretch of Lake Huron. The harbor below it is a busy little marina and a “harbor of refuge” for boats caught out on the lake.

That phrase isn’t just decoration. This shore has seen real Great Lakes fury — most famously the storm of November 1913, the “White Hurricane,” a days-long blizzard with hurricane-force winds that sank about a dozen ships and remains the deadliest storm in Great Lakes history. The storm tore out Port Sanilac’s docks, and a number of the ships that went down lie just offshore, now part of an underwater preserve that draws scuba divers all summer. Back on land, the town keeps its history at the Sanilac County Historic Village and Museum, built around an 1850 Victorian mansion. The lighthouse is privately owned, but you can usually tour the tower in summer through the museum.