Seul Choix Point Lighthouse

At the tip of a quiet point south of Gulliver stands one of the prettiest lighthouses on Lake Michigan. Seul Choix — it’s French for “only choice,” and locals pronounce it “sis-shwa” — got its name long before the lighthouse: the story goes that French sailors named the little harbor here because it was the only safe refuge on a long and dangerous stretch of coast.

The light itself went up in 1895, a white brick tower nearly eighty feet tall, and it’s still working today, flashing over the lake every night. Keepers and their families lived out here for generations until the light was automated in the 1970s. Now the Gulliver Historical Society keeps the place beautifully — the keeper’s house is a museum full of local history, and in season you can climb the ninety-six steps to the top of the tower for a long view over Lake Michigan.

And yes, about the spooky part: Seul Choix has a reputation as one of Michigan’s most haunted lighthouses, with generations of stories about a long-ago keeper who never quite left. It’s legend, of course — but the historical society has fun with it, right down to Halloween tours. Regular tours run from Memorial Day through the middle of October.