Photo Gallery Friday: Seul Choix Point Lighthouse Tour
Photo Gallery Friday is a regular feature on Travel the Mitten that will help showcase photos from places where a few pictures just aren’t enough to show off everything.
The Seul Choix Point Lighthouse is part of a museum complex near Gulliver, Michigan that is managed by the Gulliver Historical Society. The lighthouse began service in 1895, marking dangerous shoals and a previously unlit stretch of Lake Michigan that spanned 100 miles. Seul Choix is also the only harbor of refuge on that stretch, with it’s name in French meaning “only choice.” This is one of the Upper Peninsula’s most picturesque lighthouses on Lake Michigan, with a white tower attached to a two-story brick dwelling that features Italianate architecture.
Visitors to the lighthouse complex are treated to tours of the inside of the lighthouse and dwelling, which has been restored and preserved with many historical artifacts. The 77 foot tall tower is open for climbing (visitors must remain inside the lantern room), with views of Port Inland, Lake Michigan and more. There is a small fee for touring the light, but that also includes admission into the fog signal building, boat house museum, and a video presentation inside the gift shop. Find out current rates and more information at http://www.greatlakelighthouse.com/.
The lighthouse grounds are incredibly well-maintained and you can relax at picnic tables, hike a short path to the shoreline to see the limestone shoal up close, watch freighters loading at Port Inland, and more. We’ve visited this lighthouse many times, and in June 2017 we returned and took in all the museums had to offer. Other than the tower climb, highlights included a display detailing the “Murder at Seul Choix Point” and the ensuing landmark legal case People vs. Pond, fossils found nearby, nautical artifacts, and the stunning views of the shoreline. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse was stop #34 on our Ultimate Michigan Lighthouse Road Trip: Upper Peninsula, the ending point for a journey to 34 U.P. beacons that starts in St. Ignace and spans the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan shoreline. The Seul Choix Point Lighthouse is located about an hour and a half west of the Mackinac Bridge and St. Ignace.
