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Visitors and workers at the lighthouse
complex have reported strange happenings, including moved silverware and
other items, footsteps, the strong smell of cigars and the sound of
someone climbing the lighthouse steps. Many believe that a lighthouse
keeper is still at work.
Seul
Choix (pronounced Sis-shwa) Point Light marks a small harbor on Lake
Michigan located on the south shore of the Upper Peninsula. Some sixty
miles west of the Straits, the name means "only choice".
Native Americans and
French fur traders traveled in canoes across the rough waters of Lake
Michigan. It was named by the French who found that it was the only harbor
of refuge in this part of Lake Michigan. If boats were headed for the
Straits of Mackinac, the only choice for safety was Seul Choix.
During the mid-1800's
Seul Choix Point was the center of a thriving fishing community, but
today, only the lighthouse complex is still active. The light still
operates, but with an automated replacement for its original lens. The
light was placed into service in 1892, but the tower had to be rebuilt and
the station was not entirely completed until September, 1895.
The conical brick
light tower rests on an ashlar foundation 12 feet high, with 5 feet below
grade, and has a diameter of 18 feet at the base of the brickwork, and 12
feet, 8 inches at the parapet. The tower is surmounted by a 10-sided cast
iron lantern that originally held a Third Order Fresnel lens manufactured
by Le Paute of Paris. The lantern is now fitted with a modern airport
beacon lens. |