Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouses – Door County, Wisconsin
If you like lighthouses like I do, one area that should be on your bucket list is Door County, Wisconsin. Door County is the little peninsula that sticks out of Wisconsin, reaching out into Lake Michigan. Sturgeon Bay is the largest town in the Door County area, located at the southern base of the peninsula, and is home to two lighthouses – and lucky for us lighthouse lovers, you can visit both of these towers at the same time!
Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouses – Location
The lighthouses are located just a few miles off of Highway 42 in Sturgeon Bay. You can park near the Coast Guard entrance for free to see the lighthouses.
Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Light Tower
The first lighthouse you’ll see is the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Light Tower. This lighthouse is located on land, on US Coast Guard Property and is closed to the public. However, you can still see the lighthouse close enough to get some mediocre photos; you just can’t go around the fencing.
This structure was built in 1898, as officials determined that one lighthouse (the “red” lighthouse that we’ll get to in a moment) wasn’t sufficient for all of the marine traffic going through the canal. Throughout its early history, this lighthouse had some serious design flaws – the lighthouse would vibrate during high winds. The vibration was so bad that the lighthouse lens would not rotate, making the lighthouse essentially useless to mariners. After years of troubleshooting this issue, the problem was finally solved by placing the metal beams you see around the original circular tower.
Today, the lighthouse is still functioning and owned by the US Coast Guard.
This lighthouse (and most of the other Door County lighthouses) is open to the public during Door County Lighthouse Festival – this event happens twice a year, during late spring and early fall. Check here for dates.
Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Pierhead Lighthouse
This is the more ‘famous’ lighthouse of the two and if you’ve seen photos of Door County lighthouses, chances are one of them was the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Breakwater! This lighthouse was built in 1881 to help guide ships into the canal. The Sturgeon Bay ship canal gives mariners a ‘shortcut’ to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and avoids having to sail around the peninsula. The tip of the peninsula often has dangerous waters and is referred to as “Death’s Door” (see where the “Door County gets its name from?!)
This lighthouse is still fully functioning to this day and is maintained by the US Coast Guard. Visitors are welcome to walk out onto the breakwater to get a closer look at the lighthouse, however, tours of the inside are not provided. Just use caution when walking out onto the breakwater – high waters of Lake Michigan can flood and overtake the walkway. Rough seas produce very high waves, so be very cautions when venturing out here.
Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouses – Final Thoughts
For lighthouse fans like myself, this is definitely a must-stop on any Door County Wisconsin road trip. Even though you typically cannot tour the towers, the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal (the red one!) is a very photogenic lighthouse – lots of cool photography compositions can be made here with the metal walkway and the rocky shoreline.
Like this post? Pin it to save for later!
