Qualla: Forty Mile Point Light https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:18 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Forty Mile Point Light https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light Forty Mile Point Light: Introduction https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit Riis2602, CC BY-SA 4.0. For decades, mariners sailing Lake Huron between Mackinaw Point and the Saint Clair River navigated a dark stretch of coastline where no light reached them. The Presque Isle Peninsula had been lit since 1840, the Cheboygan River entrance since 1851, but between them lay miles of unlighted shore where ships sailed blind. The U.S. Lighthouse Board first requested funding for a light at Forty Mile Point in 1890. Congress took five years to approve the $25,000. By the time the light was finished in 1896, the cost of that delay had already been counted in wrecks scattered along the shore -- a stretch that earned the name "Graveyard of Ships."

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: Riis2602 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Forty Mile Point Light: Filling the Dark Gap https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit Peterpahl8, CC BY-SA 3.0. The logic behind Forty Mile Point Light was straightforward: no sailor should ever lose sight of a lighthouse while navigating Lake Huron's western shore. The point sits roughly at the midpoint between the New Presque Isle Light to the south and the Spectacle Reef Lighthouse to t...

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: Peterpahl8 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-filling-the-dark-gap.mp3 0:06 2 full Forty Mile Point Light: Red Brick Rising from Wood Pilings https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit Andreas Faessler, CC BY-SA 4.0. Construction crews drove wood pilings into the sandy ground for footings and raised walls of red brick -- three courses thick, separated by a two-inch dead air space from a fourth inner course. The integrated square tower rises above the attached keeper's house, which contains tw...

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: Andreas Faessler | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-red-brick-rising-from-wood-pilings.mp3 0:06 3 full Forty Mile Point Light: The Graveyard of Ships https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit NOAA Photo Library, Public domain. Seventeenth-century French explorers called Lake Huron La Mer Douce -- the sweet or freshwater sea. Violent storms on the sweet sea made it anything but gentle for ships. As of 2006, 1,200 wrecks had been recorded on Lake Huron. The coastline near Forty Mile Point earned especial...

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: NOAA Photo Library | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-the-graveyard-of-ships.mp3 0:06 4 full Forty Mile Point Light: Everything Still Standing https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit Andreas Faessler, CC BY-SA 4.0. What makes Forty Mile Point Light unusual among Great Lakes lighthouses is completeness. Nearly every structure from the original installation survives: the lighthouse and keeper's quarters, the barn that served as a bunkhouse (renovated in 2006-2007 as a gift shop), the foghorn ...

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: Andreas Faessler | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-everything-still-standing.mp3 0:06 5 full Forty Mile Point Light: A Light That Stays Lit https://qualla.com/forty-mile-point-light/ Photo credit Andreas Faessler, CC BY-SA 4.0. Presque Isle County owns the lighthouse today, and the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society operates the museum and gift shop. The park grounds are open year-round from 8:00 a.m. to sundown, with the lighthouse itself open for tours from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October. The ...

Read more: Forty Mile Point Light on Qualla

Image: Andreas Faessler | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/f/0/h/6/forty-mile-point-light-wp/f0h6-forty-mile-point-light-a-light-that-stays-lit.mp3 0:06 6 full