Featured Lighthouse #12- Grand Traverse Lighthouse

The best-known of the Traverse City area’s lighthouses is the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Located at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula on Cathead Bay, near the village of Northport, it is one of the oldest lighthouses on the Great Lakes, guiding ships through the northern entrance to the Manitou Passage for 150 years. Today it is a museum surrounde...d by a picturesque state park where visitors can envision the once-isolated life of lighthouse keepers and their families, with extensive exhibits and period furnishings from the 1920s and 1930s. Its popular “volunteer lighthouse keeper” program also provides opportunities for enthusiasts to spend several weeks living in the lighthouse, carrying on routine maintenance and answering the questions of its frequent visitors.