Fort Gratiot Lighthouse Tower Closes
By Sue Clark on Aug 22, 2008 in News, Opinion 
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Museum Remains Open
The Coast Guard has closed Fort Gratiot Lighthouse in Port Huron, Michigan, to visitors due to safety concerns, including falling bricks. The entrance at the base, however, remains open for a look inside, but no one can climb the tower of Michigan’s oldest lighthouse. It’s definitely not a case of the museum falling down on the job, though. The money is there in the form of a grant, waiting, unfortunately, for the GSA to get off its rear and transfer the lighthouse to the museum officially. But it’s not totally the fault of the GSA. The Environmental Protection Agency is mostly at fault here.
The EPA Report Problem
The EPA has been sitting on a report for ages. It has been this hold up, in part, which has prevented the transfer. The Coast Guard is willing, the Port Huron Museum is ready, and volunteers are standing by to repair the tower, but no one can move until the report is submitted, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality reviews it, and then the city of Port Huron has to go over it. The EPA has finally finished their end, and the DEQ report is due out August 30. But in the meantime, visitors wanting to climb the tower are put off by an orange snow fence.
Lighthouse Keeper Bob Hanford, a volunteer with the Port Huron Museum, was still giving tours and presentations. He estimates 35 to 40 people visit the lighthouse on the days it is open — Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from May 1 to Oct. 12. “They look forward to climbing,” said Hanford. “I guess we were one of the few (lighthouses in Michigan) that were doing the tours.”
Dennis Zembala, president of the Port Huron Museum, said for many visitors “going up to the top is the ultimate experience.” “It’s an incredibly important lighthouse,” he said. “It was the cornerstone of the whole Great Lakes transportation network during the first 150 years of the opening of the Great Lakes. And it’s on the city’s seal.”
Hanford said some visitors on Friday were disappointed. “I had a guy here say, ‘How am I going to get a good picture?’ I said, ‘I don’t think you can.’”
Lighthouse Future Must Be Assured
The Port Huron Times Herald has an editorial calling for the foot dragging to end. Although the lighthouse is in no danger of falling down soon, the upcoming winter will do more damage to it, and the longer it waits, the more expensive it will be to repair.
It’s time to stop the bureaucratic red tape and maybe enlist the help of one of Michigan’s US Senators to advance a bill through Congress calling for the transfer to be expedited. Other states have done it, so why Michigan, with its strong lighthouse advocacy groups, haven’t yet, is something to wonder about. Let’s hope this can be taken care of soon, as the lighthouse is just too important to be neglected any more.
Photo Credit: Fort Gratiot Lighthouse by mandj98. Some rights reserved.
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1 Comment(s)
By sam sellers on Aug 16, 2010 (3 weeks ago) | Reply
we should be able to walk up it at our own risk. there should be a sign stating that.
