Granite Island (Michigan)
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Granite Island is a 2 1/2 acre island in Lake Superior located at , about 12 miles northwest of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.
The island is granite rock that rises nearly perpendicularly to 60 feet above the surface of Lake Superior, surrounded by deep water. Because it was positioned near the busy shipping lanes of the mid-1800s, a lighthouse was built on Granite Island in 1868 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board and commissioned in 1869.
The Granite Island Light was operated by Lighthouse Keepers and assistant Keepers until the facility was automated in 1937 and the living quarters was abandoned. Aids to navigation consisted of a 4th order Fresnel lens and a fog bell tower.
Granite Island and the lighthouse were purchased by Scott and Martine Holman in 1999 from the U.S. Coast Guard and underwent a three year restoration process. The web site, www.graniteisland.com, has live camera feeds, history, videos of the restoration process and photographs and discussion of its ecology and geology. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Although the island is privately owned, an automated aid to navigation on a steel tower is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.
