The living portion of the lighthouse was renovated in , when an additional six rooms were added to the dwelling, allowing it to be separated into two apartments under a single gambrel roof. The frame kitchen which had been located on the east side of the lighthouse was moved around to the north.
On November 3, , the dwelling and tower were painted white with red roofs to provide a better daymark for mariners. Keeper Phil Sheridan, whose service from to as head keeper is the longest in the history of the station, was painting the lighthouse tower on October 14, , when the rope supporting the swinging seat he was perched in broke. As Sheridan plummeted thirty-five feet to the ground, his legs struck an iron railing breaking his right leg and crushing his left ankle.
An artery in one leg was also severed, but Sheridan recovered to continue his service at Point Betsie. Cecile E. Theile served as a laborer at the station for six months while Keeper Sheridan recuperated.
Severin, a bachelor, served the final ten years of his thirty-year career at Point Betsie Lighthouse. In , Keeper Danielsen wrote to the Bureau of Public Roads, pleading for improvements to the rough wagon path that ran between Point Betsie and a nearby highway.
After waiting a few years, the men at the lighthouse and lifesaving station took matters into their own hands, and, with help from the community, they completed a serviceable road in The following year, the illumination for the light was changed to incandescent oil vapor, increasing the intensity of the light to 55, candlepower.
A radiobeacon was placed in commission at the station on February 28, In , the fog signal was changed from a single-toned to a two-toned diaphone. The fog signal was discontinued in late or early The lifesaving station at Point Betsie was decommissioned in The Lighthouse Service looked into using the station as additional housing for the three keepers who were now assigned to Point Betsie, but ultimately the service decided to improve the cramped living quarters at the lighthouse.
The lifesaving station was sold into private hands in and remains standing to this day. Photograph courtesy U. Henry J. Lafreniere served as an assistant keeper at Point Betsie from to In the early s, a local newspaper reported that Keeper Lafreniere had recently discovered the largest deer track he had ever seen. As he was relating this to a friend, the keeper looked up and saw a group of three does.
Coast Guard personnel continued to live at Point Betsie until the dwelling's heating system failed in , prompting the Coast Guard to relocate its staff to Frankfort. As part of the renovation, the lighthouse colors were reverted to those more historically accurate: a black lantern, green trim and doors, and a bright red cedar shingled roof.
The energetic group restored the fog signal building in , and then embarked on restoring the interior of the lighthouse. Even though this is a hallway with a staircase, the space is large and contains a stocked book and game cabinet. Please take the virtual tour by viewing the pictures below. Please be patient, the pictures can be slow to load. The apartment contains a full bath. Welcome to the sitting room. This is a comfortable place to enjoy your stay.
This is the master bedroom. Preparing meals of just foraging for snacks could not be easier with a fully equipped, large, and modern kitchen.
This is the secondary bedroom. Ideal place for those kids after a sun filled day on the beach. Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and third largest by area. Its strong winds and shifting bottom caused countless shipwrecks in this area.
The U. The lighthouse marked the south entrance to the heavily traveled Manitou Passage and was like other lighthouses, manned by one keeper and his family.
It was a lonely, but important job. Find more interesting facts about the lighthouse in the history section of this website. The lightkeepers, a. It was only in that the station hooked up to the electric grid and an electric bulb was installed in the lens. Fog Signal Building is where the distinctive wail and sound pattern of the fog horn would tell sailors where they were, not just how close to shore.
Fog signals have received much attention at Point Betsie. In the autumn of , the fog signal building was rebuilt. The inch mm locomotive whistles were replaced by 10 inch chime whistles. The diaphone doubled the audible radius, and had the added benefit that it could be brought on line immediately, without waiting for steam engines to build pressure. A fog signal was installed and manned in to warn ships of the close shoreline. The lighthouse was no longer the only building on Point Betsie.
This also meant the keeper and his family were no longer alone. There were more brave people working there to keep ships, crews and passengers safe. Cedar waxwings flit through pockets of forest while spotted sandpiper and killdeer scurry over the sand. Point Betsie became a preserve through the generosity of Steve and Connie Zetterberg. In the Zetterbergs donated the original 71 acres of virgin sand dunes which became the Zetterberg Preserve at Point Betsie—property that had been in their family for generations.
After having been preserved by the Zetterberg family, Point Betsie is now maintained by TNC and cherished by generations of Michiganians. Frankfort, Michigan. View Directions Open in Maps. Explore our work in this region. Consider a hike along the shoreline instead of through the preserve to prevent dune erosion. The beach is not part of the Preserve. Respect private landowners that live adjacent to the Preserve by not trespassing.
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