Pilot Island Light
 | |
  | |
| Location | Gills Rock, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°17′3.067″N 86°55′11.012″W / 45.28418528°N 86.91972556°WCoordinates: 45°17′3.067″N 86°55′11.012″W / 45.28418528°N 86.91972556°W[1] |
| Year first constructed | 1858 |
| Year first lit | 1858 |
| Automated | 1962 |
| Foundation | Concrete |
| Construction | Milwaukee Cream City brick[2] |
| Tower shape | Square |
| Markings / pattern | yellow, black lantern and parapet |
| Height | 41 feet (12 m)[3] |
| Focal height | 48 feet (15 m)[4] |
| Original lens | Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Range | 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi)[1] |
| Characteristic | White, Flashing (2), 6 sec[1] |
| ARLHS number | USA-600[5][6] |
| USCG number |
7-21325 |
|
Pilot Island Light | |
 | |
|
USCG archive photo | |
| Nearest city | Gills Rock, Wisconsin |
| Area | 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) |
| NRHP Reference # | 83004279[7] |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 1983 |
The Pilot Island Light is a lighthouse located near Gills Rock, on Pilot Island at the east end of Death's Door passage, in Door County, Wisconsin.
The building's plant is similar to Pottawatomie Light, but this is brick instead of stone. Until 1910 it was called Port des Morts Island Light. The original fog signal building was converted to a second assistant lighthouse keeper's residence in 1900.[8]
History
Frequent and oppressive fog made the passage hazardous; and also made duty at the light to be considered a hardship in an extremely lonely and forbidding place.[9] A fog bell signal was installed in 1862. In 1864 it was replaced by a foghorn. In 1875 it was converted to a steam powered fog siren. In 1880 a separate fog building was built for a "duplicate" fog siren. This began a 10-inch (250 mm) steam whistle and new building in 1900 (which still exists near water's edge).[10] In 1904, there came a realization that the whistles were "less than effective' and they were replaced by dual diaphones.[2] The horns made living there difficult; fertilized eggs would be destroyed by the sounds.[9]
Nearby Plum Island and this island are two of four Wisconsin properties turned over in recent years by the U.S. Coast Guard to the United States Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is working to find new qualified owners, who would be required to care for the properties. The Coast Guard and BLM require the new stewards to maintain the buildings.[11]
It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 as the Pilot Island Light, reference #83004279.[8]
It is currently "abandoned, overgrown, and overrun" by a large cormorant population.[12]
Getting there
This Lighthouse can be seen at a distance from the Northport-Washington Island ferry. Excursions that go near the island are offered during an annual Door County Lighthouse Walk sponsored by the Door County Maritime Museum, and by Shoreline Resort in Gills Rock, Wisconsin.[13]
The lighthouse is owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The grounds, dwelling and tower are closed.
Notes
- 1 2 3 Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2014.
- 1 2 Pepper, Terry, Seeing the light, Pilot Island.
- ↑ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
- ↑ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com.
- ↑ "Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Milwaukee Pierhead (Lake Michigan) Light ARLHS USA-600".
- ↑ "Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, World List of Lights.".
- ↑ Staff (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- 1 2 National Park Service, NPS Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin
- 1 2 Door County Museum, Pilot Island Lighthouse.
- ↑ Wobser, David, Pilot Island Light at boatnerd.com.
- ↑ D'Entremont, Jeremy, Islands at Death's Door (October, 2003) Lighthouse Digest.
- ↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Eastern Wisconsin". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- ↑ Lighthouse friends article.
Additional reading
- D'Entremont, Jeremy, Islands at Death's Door (October, 2003) Lighthouse Digest.
- Door County Museum, Pilot Island Lighthouse.
- Eckert, Jack, Life on Pilot Island in 1955.
- Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers.
- Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
- Pepper, Terry, Seeing the light, Port des Morts Light Station: Pilot Island, Door Peninsula, Wisconsin.
- Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes".
- Robb, David, Recollections of Plum Island at Seeing the Light.
- Sapulski, Wayne S., (2001) Lighthouses of Lake Michigan: Past and Present (Paperback) (Fowlerville: Wilderness Adventure Books) ISBN 0-923568-47-6; ISBN 978-0-923568-47-4.
- Wobser, David, Pilot Island Light at boatnerd.com.
- Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1-55046-399-3.
External links
- Door County Lighthouses, Door County Marine Museum.
- NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin
- "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Wisconsin". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
