Spectacle Reef Light
U.S. Coast Guard Archive | |
| Location | Cheboygan County, Michigan, Lake Huron |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°46′24″N 84°8′12″W / 45.77333°N 84.13667°W |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1874 |
| Foundation | cofferdam/timber exposed crib |
| Construction | Monolithic limestone/iron bolts |
| Automated | 1972 |
| Height | 80 feet (24 m) |
| Shape | Frustum of a cone on a rectangular house |
| Markings | natural with red roofs |
| Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place |
| Fog signal | HORN: air–diaphone |
| Light | |
| First lit | 1874 |
| Focal height | 86 feet (26 m) |
| Lens | Second-order Fresnel lens (original), Solar powered 300 mm Tideland Signal acrylic lens (current) |
| Intensity | 400,000 candlepower white; 80,000 candlepower red |
| Range | 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) |
| Characteristic | Flashing alternately white every 60 seconds, red every 5 seconds. Operates year round. 100 candlepower white winter light which flashes every 5 seconds |
Spectacle Reef Light Station | |
| Nearest city | Benton Township, Michigan |
| Area | 0.9 acres (0.36 ha) |
| Built | 1874 |
| Architect | US Lighthouse Board: Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe, and Major Godfrey Weitzel |
| MPS | U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 05000744 |
| Added to NRHP | July 27, 2005 |
Spectacle Reef Light is a lighthouse 11 miles (18 km) east of the Straits of Mackinac and is located at the northern end of Lake Huron, Michigan. It was designed and built by Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Major Godfrey Weitzel, and was the most expensive lighthouse ever built on the Great Lakes.
Because of the challenges of building on a shoal, including laying an underwater crib, it is said to be the "most spectacular engineering achievement" in lighthouse construction on Lake Huron. It took four years to build because weather limited work to mostly the summer season. Workers lived in a structure at the site; one of the limiting conditions. It ranks high as an engineering achievement among all the lighthouses built on the Great lakes.
In 2020, The Spectacle Reef Preservation Society was formed and began to restore the lighthouse.