• Thursday-What'sUP December 3 - 10:23 am

The Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, makes for quite the imposing sight. It's hard to tell if Jeff Massie was on land or sea when he captured this picturesque shot. It's an active beacon, which has been leased for 30 years to the Marquette Maritime Museum. The Coast Guard owns the property surrounding the light, so in order to get in close for a look-see, you'll have to check with the Museum to see when they conduct tours. Until then, Jeff's picture and the following link filled with info about this navigational guidance tool will have to do!

Such a pretty lighthouse!

I love taking photos of that Lighthouse. I've got some great ones of it while the sun was setting from back in late August. Have a great day everyone.

What's better than a beautiful winter scene? A beautiful winter lighthouse scene. I've been a lighthouse lover for over 40 years and am very glad that there are others willing to work hard to save these special pieces of American history. Can't say what's the draw for sure - the romance, the water, the architecture? Lighthouses were the main excuse for our one and only trip to the Keweenaw peninsula. Thanks for a great start to my morning.

Good Morning! Thought you would like to know that negotiations are underway between the City of Marquette and the US Coast Guard to swap a new site for the Station so that Lighthouse point will be owned by the City and open as a park. The Maritime Museum is planning to renovate the second floor as it was in 1906 when it was added to the original. The first floor will continue to be for exhibit space. They have obtained an innitial $36.000 grant to begin the process. Like many, I am addicted to your site and begin my day with it, and I already have lived here for 70 years?

I love this lighthouse also & have taken the tour. Thank-you for the info Don on what plans are in the process for it. This is the very first sight I also go to every morning. It always brightens my day getting a glimpse of the beautiful UP!

I grew up less than a mile as the crow flies from this beautiful site and visit "my friend" on every trip home. What I will always remember and miss is the old steam powered fog horn that used to blow from a smaller brick builing at the end of the point. It would blow a very deep two-toned Beeee-Awwwww and the breakwall foghorn at Presques Isle would answer with today's higher pitched (and more effective) Tooooot. It became a favorite way to be lulled to sleep. Thanks Dr. Don for all the work that you and so many dedicated volunteers have done to keep this treasure and the Maritime Museum so wonderfully viable.

WOW!!! Soooo beautiful with the snow!

I am also a lighthouse lover and that's how I first became familiar with the Keweenaw Peninsula. This is a beautiful picture of a gorgeous lighthouse. I visited it last summer and I would love to see it in every season.

What a beautiful way to start the day. How is Marquette Mtn looking? Hopefully next weekend there with be enough snow to ski on. Have a great day everyone.

Don, I'm so glad to hear Marquette city wants to use the area as a park. Yea! More waterfront access for the public at a very historical site! Thank you for the information.

Oh, I too will always be able to "hear" that wonderful bass foghorn sound from the Marquette Lighthouse in my head! It was one of the special things I remember about visiting my grandparents on Pine Street each summer when I was a child. Seems to me that the foghorn often blew in the morning.

When we first came to Marquette in 1934 and that fog horn started one morning, my mother wouldn't let us out to play thinking it was a "wild cow" loose in the woods between Pine St. and the lake. She was raised in Calumet! (class of 1920) Later we would sneek out on the catwalk to the fog house and lose our ballance when it would blow. That may account for my hearing aids? Later at night the flashing light would reflect off the lantern room glass and into my bedroom window (on East Hewitt), Now it just has a 150 watt bulb in a plastic jar that hardly shows against all of the city lights.

Looks like a Christmas card.

I love lighthouses. I have a collection in my living room of so many, and some hanging on the wall. I wish I could live in one. I think I'd drop it all and move right up. It's kind of a shame they are automated now. Somehow, I just think certain things should simply not be changed, and that's one of them. Man the lighthouse and let a human be on the lookout!

I love lighthouses as well. That's a good picture.

WOW! Great picture! I'm wondering how we missed that lighthouse when we were in Marquette!

Stunningly beautiful photograph. Thank you Mr. Massie.

Hi Don,

I grew up close to the lighthouse and that fog horn, as you
know. In those years it was the 2nd loudest fog horn on the
Great Lakes, behind Sand Hills 5 mile point horn on the
Keweenaw. Lots of fond memories in those early years.



This is the Marquette lighthouse prior to remodeling and
adding the 2nd floor for the Assistant Keeper in 1909.

Three things everybody seems to love:
1) Lighthouses
2) Hot Air Balloons
3) Puppies

GREAT PIC!!! Miss the light house, lived just down the steet in an apartment above a taxi cab co. while attending NMU, what I would give to live there now. Enjoy the pictures of Marquette, my second home, keep it up pasty. com!

I can't get over the difference in the beach! I regularly swam at the beach pictured in the old photograph back in the 70's. Vegitation really took hold. The most recent pictures of that beach show a chain link fence running down the middle of it down to the water. Hopefully that will be the first thing to go if the city gets the property.

Does anyone have the foghorn on tape? I've missed it so much since moving away almost 30 years ago. We used to swim in front of the lighthouse, hoping to meet those Coast Guard guys!!

After doing a Google search, I came up with a foghorn file over at Phil Block's site. Hope this is what you're looking for!

To Tim, MA,

Puppies?? I thought it was Pasties!

Great Picture you took Jeff. I am sure this one is a sure candidate for WOW of the week!! I also put it on my desktop ..........it will stay there for quite awhile too. Kudos again.

Who needs a "light" when you have such a bright red building to guide your way? ;-)

I remember as a kid walking out to the house (during calm seas, of course) to check out the view of the lake and the general peacefulness of the area. Great fishing just out from the lighthouse as well, especially in spring. Sure beats the hustle and neon lights of Vegas that's for sure!!

Also wanted to pass along that Dr. Nat's Father is doing very well as his heart surgury. He has already been out walking and doing limited yard work. The doctor's tell us that he was very lucky to have caught it early on.

That picture looks like it could have been taken today! Brrrrr but a gorgeous picture on pasty.com

What a fantastic lighthouse picture with a little
blueness in the sky and a fine snow on the ground.

Hey: Guess who is dropping the puck at the Huskies game Friday nite? The Detroit Red Wings Macartny thats who. Get to the game and maybe you might get an autograph. His band is also playing at the Uphill 41. He and a few others formed a band and are playing there and a gig in Marquette etc. Pretty good. Go Huskies

Dr Don?????....are you Thee Dr Elzinga I remember back in 1960 when you treated my baby????....My son was born in Calumet (Laurium) and had a serious problem. I remember your wonderful kindness......we were so distressed as young parents and you directed us to Ann Arbor. (on the trip down the bridge was closed because of a snowstorm and we needed a police escort to cross the Mackinac Bridge....it was May 1, 1960)....The "baby" did very well and is a 44yr old living in Green Bay.....I wonder if I thanked you...anyhow..Thank You once again for your wisdom and kindness.

Cool pic! That is a big lighthouse but not a tall one.

What a beautiful scene of the Marquette Lighthouse. It's always a favorite stop for us, when we're in the UP. We live in Southwest Michigan, but try to get to the UP at least once a month. Thank you for the great website.

We are so lucky to have so many beautiful lighthouses in the UP?.......wonder about our coast-guard stations??...how many are there still in operation here in the UP?....

Great shot! will definitely see it when we move up to the UP!

Thanks, Mary...although it's a great horn, it isn't the Marquette foghorn... Some day I'll just have to get up there and tape it myself I guess.