Manistee North Pier Head and Lighthouse
The original Manistee Lighthouse was completed in 1870 after almost two decades of petitioning, planning, and building. In October of the following year, a great fire swept through the town, destroying almost everything in its path, including the lighthouse. The rebuild was completed by 1872, and the lighthouse was altered, moved, and weathered over the next century and a half. In 1914, a breakwater was completed on the south side of the Manistee River, and in 1925, the lighthouse on the north pier was electrified. In 1927, the current steel construction was added to encase the lighthouse, which has lasted almost 100 years. The steel catwalk replaced a wooden walkway in the 1920s, one of very few of its kind still standing in Michigan. The catwalk was gifted to the City of Manistee in the 1990s, and in 2011, the lighthouse was gifted to the City of Manistee and the Manistee County Historical Museum. Today, the historic museum is in charge of upkeeping the lighthouse and has invested a great deal into preserving it. The pier itself is a lovely walk, offering views of Lake Michigan, 5th Avenue Beach, the lighthouse, the breakwater, and the breakwater light. We saw very few boats passing by when we walked out to the end, and it was a wavy day, so waves crashed over the side of the pier from time to time. I have been to a lot of lighthouses in our state, and the Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse is one of the prettiest and best-kept on Lake Michigan.
