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Destination: Michigan
Whitefish Point Lighthouse & Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Located on the tip of "The Shipwreck Coast," and providing a haven for ships coming from the "graveyard of the Great Lakes" it is no wonder that tourists flock to the area every summer. Whitefish Point offers intrigue, beauty, and many, many tales of maritime history. Whitefish Point Lighthouse is located on the tip of the point, the light was automated in 1971 and still served as a beacon of welcome to sailors along "The Shipwreck Coast." One of the Coast Guard Buildings that was part of the lighthouse now is home the the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory is located on the same property. Just a few miles away is the beautiful Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Paradise, Michigan, and even the remains of the old lumber town Shelldrake.
Since the Whitefish Point lighthouse as built in 1849, Whitefish Point has served as guardian of Whitefish Bay and the ships that pass through. To the north Whitefish Point looks out over the "graveyard of the Great Lakes," an area in Lake Superior where there have been many shipwrecks. This graveyard is hammered by the strong winds from the north and the west, waves have been know to reach 35 feet. One of the most notable of ships sunk in this area is the Edmund Fitzgerald. The day the Fitzgerald wrecked, November 10, 1975 the light at the Whitefish Point lighthouse was out and the Fitzgerald was only 17 miles north-northwest of the point and safety. The first ship ever known to have set sail on Lake Superior also sank in the "graveyard of the Great Lakes," the Invincible sank in 1816. Most of the shipwrecks in the area are from the end of the 1800s. At this time the vessels that sailed the Great Lakes were smaller and their navigational equipment was less advanced. At the time the lighthouse was built in 1849 it was one of the two first lighthouses on Lake Superior. The Whitefish Point lighthouse is now the oldest active lighthouse on the lake.
Just 11 miles south of Whitefish Point lies the village of Paradise. Paradise has a long history of logging, fishing, shipping, and berry harvesting. In 1922 a fire raged over the land around Paradise, destroying the natural growth. This fire lead the area to become one of Michigan's most productive wild blueberry regions. Three years after the fire the village of Paradise was founded. The village is now home to the annual Blueberry Festival in August. As well as being home to the festival, Paradise also offers some great attractions, lodging, snowmobiling, and the Crisp Point Lighthouse.
Just three miles north of Paradise lies the remains of the lumber town Shelldrake. Shelldrake was settled in the mid 1800s and built on the mouth of the Shelldrake River. Shelldrake was home to a hospital and houses for 1,000 lumberjacks. The buildings of Shelldrake have disappeared and now only a few traces of the town remain.
Ten miles to the west of Paradise lies the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The park has almost 50,000 acres and is home to the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi. In 1671 a French explorer documented the falls on a map, the name of the falls at that time was Outakouaminan. It is unknown when the name changed to Tahquamenon, but by 1855 when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wrote the Song of Hiawatha the area was known as Tahquamenaw. In his words Hiawatha built his canoe "by the rushing Tahquamenaw." The name Tahquamenaw is credited to the amber coloring of the water. This color comes from the tanic acid leaching out of the cedar and hemlock swamps at the head of the river. At the time of Hiawatha, the Ojibwa Indians, of which he was a member, inhabited the area. They lived there for its abundance of fish and animals. The Ojibwa camped, farmed, fished and trapped along the banks of the Tahquamenon river.
In the late 1800's logging had reached the area and the Tahquamenon river carried the logs downstream. The lumberjacks were some of the first white settlers in the area. Today the Tahquamenon falls covers almost 13 miles of undeveloped woodland, at the center of the park are the two falls, the upper and the lower. The upper falls drop almost 50 feet while the lower falls are a series of five small falls surrounding an island. This island can be reached by boat and has extensive trails.
Posted/updated Jul 17, 2006
by Cody Sprattmoran
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