Abandoned Lighthouse Lake Michigan

Poverty Island Light Station, Fairbanks Michigan

Date added: August 18, 2023 Categories:

Overall exterior, tower and attached dwelling, and assistant keeper's dwelling on the left, looking northeast (2004)

Poverty Island Light Station is part of the Federal government's efforts to provide an integrated system of navigational aids throughout the United States and to provide for safe maritime transport within the Great Lakes. The light marked a route through deep waters around the south side of Poverty Island for commercial vessels arriving or departing Green Bay ports. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Great Lakes have served as a major transportation corridor for commercial traffic. Poverty Island Light Station was an integral part of Lake Michigan's successful maritime commerce from its inception in 1875 until final deactivation in the 1990s. Built of brick upon a stone foundation, the structure is an integrated tower and keeper's quarters attached by a central passageway.

The History of Poverty Island Light Station

The Peninsula Railroad across Michigan's Upper Peninsula was completed in 1864. It provided a rail link between the Marquette Range's iron ore mines and the Lake Michigan port of Escanaba, Michigan. This led to a great increase in the number of vessels carrying iron ore cargoes from Escanaba to steel mill ports east of the Straits of Mackinac. The route followed by these ships passed through the chain of islands stretching across the mouth of Green Bay, where dangerous shoals existed. In order to minimize the chances of running aground, they had to travel during daylight hours and hold close to the south shore of Poverty Island where water depths averaged over 70 feet. Poverty Island thus became a prime candidate location for establishing a light station. In 1867 the U.S. government's Lighthouse Board took steps to reserve it for that purpose.

A statement printed in the Lighthouse Board's Annual Report for 1867 requested congressional funding for this project. The Lighthouse Board argued:

The already large and rapidly increasing commerce to and from the northern end of Green [BJay and lower lake ports now takes in daylight the northern passage from Lake Michigan into Green [Blay, because of its being much shorter and more direct. To enable vessels to use the same passage in the night, a light-house on Poverty [I]sland is necessary....

After this request was repeated verbatim for five consecutive years, Congress finally responded with an $18,000 appropriation under an act passed on 3 March 1873. Construction on the Poverty Island Light Station began in August of that same year. The architectural plans were virtually identical to those used in 1869 to build the Sturgeon Point Light Station located next to Lake Huron at Harrisville, Michigan, and in 1870 to build the Portage River Light Station, located on Lake Superior in Jacobsville, Michigan.

Work progressed at Poverty Island until a fire destroyed the construction crew s temporary barracks on 25 October 1873. The fire began during the workday and destroyed the workmen s quarters, cookhouse, and provisions shanty. Although none of the workmen were injured, they were left with no provisions or personal items. The project's chief engineer Major Godfrey Weitzel, wrote the Lighthouse Board on the workers behalf and requested reimbursement for such losses as fine clothing and watches.

In May 1874 a small work party recommenced construction on Poverty Island. Before funding ran out, the crew had built the light tower to a height of 31 feet, installed stairs and landings up to the height of the walls, and partly finished the interior plastering. In addition, the keeper's dwelling attached to the tower had been completed and painted. A temporary wooden lantern was erected on the roof of the dwelling before work at Poverty Island was stopped and the crew was dismissed. The Lighthouse Board requested that Congress provide an additional $3,000 to finish the tower during the next season. After receiving the appropriation, the tower was completed and the light was first exhibited on 10 August 1875.

In 1883 workers made repairs to the tower and dwelling, including building a retaining wall against the tower's footings and foundation courses to eliminate settling. A fog signal building was constructed in 1885 to house the boilers and machinery for a steam fog whistle. It was a wood-frame structure covered and lined with sheet-iron. The new steam whistle fog signal began operating on 15 October 1885. A second assistant keeper was added to the station staff the same year.

Throughout the winter of 1894, the station s keepers struggled to load six tons of coal and 48 cords of wood into the fog signal's boilers to keep the whistles sounding for a total of 489 hours. This was the most hours of fog signal operation in any single year in the station s history. A circular, iron oil house was erected east of the lighthouse in 1894. In 1915, a 35-millimeter I.O.V. outfit was installed in the tower improving the intensity of the light.

Because the station was located on an island, the keepers primary means of transportation was by boat. Consequently, the Lighthouse Board's Annual Reports reflect a number of changes and improvements to the docking system at Poverty Island. In 1888, the boat harbor's landing and projecting cribs were rebuilt. An L-shaped boat landing was constructed in 1895 to form a protected harbor for the keeper's boat. Further changes to the boat landing were made between 1898 and 1907. This work included extending the boatways and moving the boathouse 50 feet closer to the lake. In addition, various log cribs were constructed near the landing and nearby shoreline to provide additional protection and a safer harbor; and a new walk to connect the landing to the boathouse was built.

A lighthouse keeper's work on an isolated island was often difficult and dangerous. Poverty Island keeper James McCormick barely escaped death during the summer of 1912. While transporting a load of gasoline back from Escanaba, an explosion occurred on his boat when he was still some 7 or 8 miles from Poverty Island. McCormick described the incident in a letter to the Twelfth District Lighthouse Inspector. He wrote the following:

I had a lantern lit so that I could see to oil the engine. I was sitting in the stem steering and looking back at a big barge that was coming behind me and I was watching to keep out of her way when all at once there was an explosion and in a second the fire was spread all over the inside of the boat. It spread so quick that I was unable to reach a life preserver so I ran forward and got out three cans of gasoline, but that was all I could get, the heat was so intense. I lashed the cans together to help buoy me up.

The crew of the Horace M. Wilkinson, the iron ore barge McCormick had seen, rescued and returned him to Poverty Island. Except for non-serious burns on his face and neck, he was unharmed. The lucky keeper requested that the Lighthouse Inspector send a new boat to the station as soon as possible.

The Poverty Island Light Station continued to be manned and lit year round until 1920. This was unlike many other light stations in the Great Lakes region, which shut down in the winter months when maritime traffic lessened. While three keepers were employed at the Poverty Island station, there was only one dwelling. During the summer months one of the keepers and his family lived in a wood-framed shed.

Due to the crowded and unsatisfactory conditions, the Lighthouse Service decided to build a second dwelling for the first assistant keeper at a location 100 feet northwest of the lighthouse. Paid for from the Light Keepers Dwellings appropriation, the cost of its construction totaled $6,500. The Lighthouse Service built the new dwelling on a concrete foundation using 12-inch hollow ceramic building tile and finished the outside with stucco. The floor plan was based on a study of the situation and the habits of keepers under island conditions. The kitchen and living room were built at the front of the house. This was because it was concluded that keepers and their families living on islands spend at least 75% of their waking hours in the kitchen and as the lake and passing vessels constitute the only outside things of interest to break the monotony of the island situation. The dwelling's bedrooms were arranged at the back of the house with the bathroom in the middle of the structure. The cellar beneath the back end of the house accommodated coal storage, the furnace, and laundry facilities.

Following construction of the assistant keepers quarters, the Lighthouse Service altered the kitchen in the primary keeper's dwelling. This was done because it was old and inconveniently arranged and should be repaired and improved to make it suitable and comfortable for occupancy by family at this isolated station. Originally constructed as a woodshed, the addition at the back of this dwelling had come to be used as the kitchen. Its floor was located 34 inches below the main floor throughout the rest of the house's main level. This made for a very bad situation for a woman caring for a numerous family. The addition also had only one small window that did not provide enough light for the room where keepers and their families spent the majority of their time. Recommended improvements included raising the sloped roof, raising the floor to make it level with the first floor of the dwelling, adding ample window openings, and providing a proper entrance and porch at the east end of the kitchen. These recommendations were approved and completed in 1921.

The new assistant keeper's dwelling improved the keepers quality of life by providing more space and privacy, but it also contributed to a decrease in annual pay. Lighthouse Service Superintendent Hubbard wrote to Commissioner George Putnam in November 1921, requesting an adjustment of Poverty Island s first and second assistant keepers pay, in view of the new dwelling nearing completion. Putnam approved the suggestion, which resulted in a pay cut of $120 annually for both assistant keepers. Later, all of the keepers, including the primary keeper, saw a reduction of $60 per year when the Lighthouse Service decided to close the station during the winter season. After successful experimentation at Poverty Island during the winter of 1920 and 1921, the Lighthouse Service realized that money could be saved by closing the station during the winter and employing an acetylene light. These new changes were implemented 1 January 1922. The primary keeper's salary was reduced from $960 to $900, the first assistant keeper's salary from $900 to $720, and the second assistant keeper's salary from $840 to $660.

In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was abolished as a separate federal agency and its duties subsumed by the U.S. Coast Guard. Poverty Island Light Station lost its keepers in 1957 when its light was automated and the fog signal discontinued. In 1976, the stations masonry light tower was deactivated and its lantern lowered from atop the tower to the ground. It was replaced by a new tower established on the island's north side. This was a skeletal structure with a red and white diamond shaped daymark that signaled a flashing light every six seconds. The new light's focal plane was 88 feet above lake level, making it visible for 12 statute miles in clear weather. This light tower was taken out of service six years later, in 1982. At that time a small, solar powered optic mounted on a metal pole was placed atop Poverty Island's original masonry light tower. The new signal's characteristic continued to be a flashing light every six seconds. This optic's position atop the old tower gave it a focal plane 80 feet above lake level. It was visible for 11 statute miles. The aid to navigation light at Poverty Island was permanently deactivated sometime after 1990. In the 1980s, with Coast Guard permission, the lighthouse's original fourth order lantern was transported to Escanaba, Michigan, for use in the restoration of the Sand Point Lighthouse. It was installed atop the rebuilt light tower, where it remains today.

Shipping, Commerce, and the Establishment of Navigational Aids on the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes system includes Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, their connecting waters, and the St. Lawrence River. It is one of the largest concentrations of fresh water on the earth. The system has about 11,000 statute miles of shoreline and a total water surface area of around 95,000 square miles. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal linked the Lake Ene port of Buffalo, New York, with New York City via the Hudson River. It also marked the start of enormous growth in population, maritime traffic, and trade in the Great Lakes Region. In 1829, the Welland Canal opened, linking Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The St. Mary s Falls Ship Canal (the Soo Locks) at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, opened in 1855. This completed one of the last major links in the Great Lakes navigation system. With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, North America's industrial and agricultural heartland became accessible to oceangoing deep-draft vessels navigating the Great Lakes. In addition, development of the Illinois Waterway allowed smaller watercraft and barge traffic to reach the Great Lakes from the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River, and the New York State Barge Canal System opened the lakes to similar traffic from New York Harbor via the Hudson River.

Commerce grew rapidly in the Great Lakes region throughout the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. This led early on to the recognition that a system of aids to navigation was necessary for marine safety. The lumber industry accounted for a major portion of early development and expansion of marine traffic in the region. As early as 1852, over 4 million tons of shipments crossed the Great Lakes, largely consisting of lumber and grain. In the years to come, the production of iron ore in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and copper production in the Keweenaw region of the western Upper Peninsula, in addition to grain from the northwest, furnished southbound cargoes. These shipments corresponded with the heavy northbound movement of coal from ports in the lower Great Lakes.

By 1910, the amount of shipped goods increased to 80 million tons of mainly iron ore and coal. In 1915, limestone emerged as an important bulk commodity in the region. Shipped freight tonnage reached a record of 217 million tons in 1948. The combined movement of lumber, grain, iron ore, and coal together with limestone cargoes from the Lake Huron area to the centers of steel production, resulted in the greatest bulk freight marine commerce the world has ever seen.

The need for aids to navigation on the Great Lakes increased along with the expansion of shipping and settlement. Seven lighthouses were built on the Great Lakes between 1818 and 1822, and 32 more were built during the 1830s. The Lighthouse Establishment added 33 additional lights between 1841 and 1852. Between 1852 and 1860, the total number of aids to navigation increased from 76 to 102. Another lighthouse construction boom occurred in the 1890s. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Great Lakes had 334 major-lighted aids, 67 fog signals, and 563 buoys.

Several distinct designs or types of lighthouses emerged during the nineteenth century. Until 1870 or so, the most common design consisted of a wood, stone, or brick keeper's dwelling with the light exhibited in a lantern on the roof or in an attached square tower. By the 1870s, taller towers connected to a keeper's house by an enclosed passageway became popular. Lighthouse engineers practiced and perfected the construction of light stations on isolated islands, reefs, and shoals from 1870 to 1910. Such lighthouses were most commonly built atop crib structures sunk in place as foundations.

During the nineteenth century, light vessels were used in many offshore locations as substitutes for lighthouses because they were less expensive than permanent structures. However, harsh weather on the Great Lakes often forced lightships to leave their stations before mid-December. In the spring, various lightships often had to delay returning to their stations until larger, stronger vessels broke up ice blocking the way. This situation meant some dangerous areas were left unmarked for a period of time after the start and before the end of the region's normal mid-April to mid-December shipping season. U.S. government lighthouse engineers worked diligently from the late 1920s through the 1930s to replace all lightships on the Great Lakes with permanent aids to navigation. This was given high priority in the Federal government's lighthouse program in order to promote safer travel and increase maritime commerce.

Site Description

Poverty Island Light Station consists of the entirety of Poverty Island. It is located in northwest Lake Michigan at the mouth of Green Bay. This light station was established in 1875. Its principal buildings are grouped in a complex where the lighthouse is situated on the island's rocky southwest shoreline. The remainder of the island is predominantly wooded with native trees and brush. The light at the station marked a safe route through the Poverty Island Passage between Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and warned mariners of dangerous shoals nearby. The conical tower and one-and-one-half story keeper's dwelling are connected by an enclosed passageway. Resting on a raised dressed stone and timber foundation, these structures are constructed of brick and painted white. The lighthouse tower is missing its lantern. A one-story, brick addition is attached to the north end of the keeper's dwelling. A circular oil house built of iron is located northeast of the lighthouse. The hollow-tile and stucco assistant keepers quarters was built in 1920 and is now in ruins. It sits approximately 100 feet west of the lighthouse. A concrete foundation on which the fog signal building and boathouse originally stood is located east of the tower. The remains of concrete stairs descend from this foundation to the water, and remnants of the boat landing are visible. Poverty Island is owned by the United States Coast Guard. The Poverty Island Light Station is inactive.

Light Tower and Keeper's Dwelling Structure (built 1875, renovated 1921)

This structure includes four connected components. These are the light tower, passageway, keeper's dwelling, and an addition attached to the dwelling. All are constructed of red brick painted white. Much of the brick shows evidence of spalling. This structure was originally built in 1875 and renovated in 1921.

The tower is 70 feet tall and sits 60 feet inland from the shoreline. An enclosed passageway at its base on the northeast side provides a connection with the keeper's dwelling. The passageway connects the tower's ground floor level with the keeper dwelling's first story.

The light tower tapers inward towards the top. Its fenestration consists of four windows with flat stone sills and lintels. The openings were once fitted with wooden two-light casement windows that opened outward from the tower walls. Most of the casements still exist, although in poor condition, and the openings have been sealed with plywood or Plexiglas sheets. Decorative brackets around the top of the brick tower support the underside of the cast-iron lantern gallery, which extends beyond the tower's diameter. The lantern gallery's perimeter is enclosed by a two-tiered pipe railing. The brackets, gallery floor, and railing are painted black. A late nineteenth century fourth-order lantern formerly sat atop the tower. It was removed in 1976 and now sits atop the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba, Michigan.

The passageway at the foot of the tower provides sheltered access between it and the keeper's dwelling. It has a gabled roof with overhanging eaves covered in wood shingles. There is a four-step concrete stairway on the west side of the passageway exterior. This leads to a modem wood door centered on the wall. Metal wire tubing is attached to the wall for a non-functioning light above the doorway. There is a single rectangular window with a flat stone sill and lintel directly opposite the doorway on the east side of the passage. Its opening formerly contained a six-over-six, double-hung, wood sash window, but now the window opening is mostly open to the elements. An original, four-panel wood door leans against the wall beneath the window.

The keeper's quarters, like the passageway, is topped by a gabled roof with overhanging eaves covered in wood shingles. The majority of the shingles are missing, and the wooden roof planking is exposed. A brick chimney rises from the north end of the roof ridge.

Just below the dwelling's south gable, above the north gable of the passageway, there are three window openings with flat stone sills and lintels. All three openings are covered with single sheets of plywood. The north gable contains two window openings that are also sealed with plywood boards. There are four windows on the dwelling's east side, and three on the west side. These openings are decorated with the same stone sills and lintels, and all but one are closed off with single sheets of plywood. The exception is a window on the east side which still has a section of its upper sash. These window openings formerly contained six-over-six, double-hung, wood sash.

An opening to the dwelling's cellar is located below the northern-most window on the eastern facade. Its storm doors are no longer present. The cellar is lighted with four eyebrow windows set in the dwelling's raised stone foundation. There are two on the east side and two on the west side. These windows have stone sills but no lintels like the other windows. The cellar window openings are closed with plywood sheets.

A single-story addition topped by a flat roof with overhanging eaves is attached to the north end of the keeper's dwelling. It is constructed of yellow and red brick painted white. The eaves are supported by a carved wood entablature. A doorway on the addition's eastern side is accessed by a flight of five concrete stairs and a porch. The stairway has a two-tiered metal pipe handrail on either side. Metal wire tubing for a non-functioning light above the entrance is attached to the wall. The addition's fenestration consists of the single window on the east side adjacent to the doorway; a double window on the north end with a smaller window located below at the basement level; and a single window on the west side. The addition's doorway and window openings have concrete sills and lintels to mimic the stone ones of the dwelling, passageway and tower. These openings are sealed with sheets of plywood.

The light tower is accessed from the passageway interior through a narrow, barrel-vaulted opening in the tower wall. The tower's ground floor is concrete. Its interior brick walls are covered in plaster and painted white. Some of the paint and plaster on the tower walls is worn and chipped, revealing the red brick underneath. Much of the tower's interior walls and staircase are covered with mold.

The wall surrounding the tower's ground floor base level includes two storage spaces set into the brickwork whose openings have segmental arches. These extend from floor level to just below the staircase. A wooden cabinet is built into the rectangular window opening at the foot of the staircase. Its shelves and doors have been removed, but the hinges remain.

A cast iron, spiral staircase rises clockwise from the tower's ground floor to the cast iron ceiling. This ceiling is the platform on top that supported the lighthouse's lantern. The staircase treads are pierced with a decorative pattern. The risers are connected to the treads at the ends only, giving the staircase an open appearance. Brackets attached to the tower walls support a metal pipe handrail. Originally painted white, the central column, staircase, and handrail are now corroded with rust, and the paint is cracked and flaking. The circular staircase has three landings. Each of the landings occupies approximately one-quarter of the area of the tower and is pierced in the same pattern as the stair treads. There are twenty-four stairs from the floor to the first landing; twenty-four stairs from the first landing to the second landing; and eighteen stairs to the third. Another fifteen stairs extend from the third landing to an opening in the cast iron ceiling. This opening is presently sealed with wood. It formerly provided access to the lighthouse lantern.

One rectangular window pierces the tower walls at each landing. Due to the thickness of the tower walls, which are wider at the base and gradually narrow towards the top, these windows are neither flush with the interior nor the exterior of the tower wall. The first landing's window opening is surrounded with decorative brickwork. This surround is in the shape of a segmental arch and includes a brickwork window seat in the wall below the window opening. Similar brick segmental arches, without window seats, frame the windows at the second and third landings.

The interior of the passageway connects with the light tower on its southern end and the keepers dwelling on its northern end. An arched metal doorframe surrounds the entrance to the light tower. The original metal door has been removed from its hinges and leans against the passageway wall. The entrance to the keeper's quarters at the passage's north end has been closed with cinder blocks. The passageway's interior walls are covered with plaster and painted. Both plaster and paint are in poor condition. The wood ceiling is decaying, and pieces have fallen to the passageway's concrete floor. The passageway's original four-panel front door is in place and visible on the eastern wall, attached to the inside of the modern exterior door with staples. The passage's sole window is directly across from the door.

The only accessible entrance to the keeper's dwelling is through the cellar. The entrances from the lighthouse passageway and the kitchen addition are sealed. The cellar floor is dirt. The stairs leading from the cellar to the dwelling's first story are no longer standing. This creates an open space through which the interior of the addition above can be seen. Part of the first story's wooden floor has caved in. The part of the dwelling interior that can be seen from the cellar is in a state of decay. A hole in the cinder block wall that closes off the passageway from the dwelling offers a view into the dwelling's southern interior. It is in deteriorated condition. The cellar contains quantities of discarded clothing and refuse, suggesting that trespassers have used or continue to use this area for shelter.

Oil House (1894)

The oil house is located 100 feet east of the light tower-keeper's dwelling structure. It was used for storing fuel for the lighthouse lamp and other flammables such as paint. This cylindrical structure is constructed of metal plates. Its door is missing, and the metal plates are corroded. The oil house has a sloped roof. A ventilator ball at the roof's apex aids air circulation in the structure.

The cinder blocks were likely added after the keeper's quarters began to deteriorate. A large hole has been knocked through the center of the wall, and concrete debris is scattered over the passageway floor. The hole offers a good view into the keeper's dwelling. A flight of wood stairs along the west wall ascends to the attic and a doorway to the right of the stairs leads to the rest of the house. The wood ceiling and floor is decaying.

Assistant Keeper's Dwelling (1921)

The assistant keeper's quarters was constructed in 1920 to 1921 and now lies in ruins. It is located 100 feet northwest of the light tower-keeper's dwelling structure.

This dwelling was built as a one-story, bungalow-like residence with a porch and hipped roof. It sits on a concrete foundation and was constructed of hollow clay tile covered with stucco. The porch extends across the dwelling's southwest (front) facade facing the island's shoreline. The structure's main (front) entrance is on the same side as the porch, with another doorway for the dwelling on its eastern side. The kitchen and living room were located in the front of the house with three bedrooms in the back. There are ten window openings on the first floor level. A basement existed beneath the northwestern (rear) part of the structure. It was lighted with six windows set into the structure's foundation.

Today much of the stucco on the walls is gone, revealing the hollow clay tile beneath. The roof's planking and shingles are mostly gone leaving the beams visible. The area above the front porch has collapsed. The entrance on the east side provides a view inside the back portion of the house. This doorway s interior landing has completely collapsed into the basement, and its fight of stairs to the dwelling's hallway is rotting. Plaster and wood are visible on the floor throughout the dwelling's interior.

Fog Signal and Boat House Building (1885-1940s)

The remains of this building are situated next to the shoreline, 200 feet southeast of the lighthouse. Only this structure's concrete platform foundation remains.

Available information suggests this structure was built in 1905 when the light station's boat house was moved 50 feet closer to the lakeshore. Historic photographs dating to the 1940s show that the fog signal building and boathouse occupied a single structure covered by a common roof. While the structure is gone, the concrete platform foundation it occupied exists today.

It is unclear whether or not the existing fog signal building concrete foundation occupies the same location as the original fog signal building built in 1885. The 1885 structure was built with wood framing and covered and lined with sheet-iron. It housed the machinery to operate a 10-inch steam fog whistle that first sound d on 15 October 1885. A document from 1920 says the fog signal building existing at that time was located on the opposite (east) side of the light tower from the assistant keepers dwelling built in 1920-1921.

The remains of concrete stairs descend from the boathouse's concrete foundation towards the water. Wooden and concrete remains of a boat landing are visible beneath the shallow water where an L-shaped boat landing was built in 1894. A set of tracks extended along an inclined plane from the fog signal building to the boat dock. It was used to move coal from the boat dock to the fog signal building using a small railway car.

The addition at the north end of the keeper's dwelling was covered by a sloping shed roof prior to 1921. In that year, the Lighthouse Board directed that the addition's roof be elevated, and its floor brought up to the same height as the main floor of the dwelling. Other work on the addition accomplished at the same time included adding window openings, an entranceway to the dwelling, and a porch at its east end. This work was done in order that the addition function better as a kitchen and gathering space for the keeper's family.

Photographs of the keeper's dwelling taken in 1913 do not show the presence of an exterior cellar entrance at the keeper's dwelling. The one existing today must have been added later, possibly when remodeling work was accomplished for the addition. The 1913 photograph shows that a basement eyebrow window existing then had to be relocated a short distance southward along the dwelling's foundation wall. The same 1913 photograph shows only three windows on the east side of the dwelling's first level. A fourth smaller window was added later between the circa 1913 southern and middle windows.

A privy and shed are both mentioned in a real estate inventory of the light station property conducted in 1930. This privy was constructed of brick. Its location is unknown. A U.S. Coast Guard photograph from 1947 and an existing site map shows a wood-framed shed 150 feet northwest of the lighthouse. Other improvements to the light station property made when it operated include a network of concrete and wood plank pathways between the various light station buildings.