Six Mile Point Range Lights – Two Historic Beacons on the North Huron Scenic Byway
Michigan is home to more lighthouses than any other state with more than 125 still standing today. We have been fortunate to visit many of these beacons in the last 30 years, and as our list of lights to visit gets smaller we are always trying to incorporate the ones we haven’t seen into our trips. The Six Mile Point Range Lights once helped guide freighters on the St. Mary’s River, but today you can see them at two different museums along the North Huron Scenic Byway (M-134).
The Six Mile Point Rear Range stands in front of the Les Cheneaux Historical Association Maritime Museum at 602 M-134 in Cedarville. This tall and skinny white metal tower stands close to 50 feet tall. Inside the museum you will find “displays of vintage boats, marine artifacts, antique outboard motors, historic photos of area boating, a boat building workshop, and a gift shop.”
The Six Mile Point Front Range Light is located on the grounds of the De Tour Passage Historical Museum in DeTour Village (104 Elizabeth St. near the Drummond Island ferry dock). The museum “chronicles the growth & struggles our village has encountered for many years, provides an abundance of information about our lighthouse, & is a hub of community information.” This light is also a cylindrical metal tower, though it is wider than the rear range and not nearly as tall.
These two range lights are not visited by many, and most people have probably driven by them without realizing what they are/were. Many sets of range lights played important roles in Michigan’s maritime history in the late-1800s and earl 1900s: the Copper Harbor Range Lights, the Presque Isle Range Lights, the Grand Island Range Lights (Christmas), the Munising Range Lights, the Cheboygan River Range Lights, the Peche Island Range Lights, and the Saginaw River Range Lights. While the Six Mile Point Range Lights aren’t winning any lighthouse beauty contests they still served an important historical purpose and deserve at least a little bit of attention.
