Breaking News
Local News

Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse: Where history and haunting legends meet

7 min read

Editor's note: This story on the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse is the eighth in a series on the area's lighthouses and lightships.

GULLIVER -- By day, the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse serves as the only active beacon on the north shore of Lake Michigan. By night, it has earned a reputation for something far more mysterious.

Recognized by Pure Michigan as home to one of the state’s haunted lighthouses, Seul Choix Pointe has become a destination for history buffs and paranormal enthusiasts alike. Its name comes from the French phrase meaning “only choice,” a reminder that Seul Choix Bay was once the only safe harbor available to French sailors navigating this stretch of Lake Michigan.

The Seul Choix Pointe grounds welcomes visitors each summer with guided tours, a museum and gift shop. The site is operated by the Gulliver Historical Society in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Parks and Recreation Division.

While the state owns the property, the historical society maintains the grounds and funds operations through popular tours and donations.

The lighthouse traces its origins to the late 19th century, when increasing commercial traffic on Lake Michigan highlighted the need for a navigational aid along the northern shoreline.

Responding to a request from the United States Lighthouse Board, Congress appropriated $15,000 on Aug. 4, 1886, for construction of a lighthouse at Seul Choix Pointe.

In its 1885 annual report, the Lighthouse Board described the importance of the location.

"During the prevalence of northwest winds, this coast is followed by many vessels from Chicago and Milwaukee, and Seul Choix offers a good harbor of refuge in these winds, with good anchorage in from three and a half to four fathoms of water. There is no light on this northern shore between Poverty Island and Saint Helena [lighthouses], a distance of about 100 miles."

Construction of the light station was completed in 1895 during a period of expansion for the iron-ore trade in Escanaba. The 79-foot lighthouse tower was built on an ashlar stone foundation with walls 20 inches thick at the base, pocketed with a 29-inch air space before a second nine-inch-thick inner wall, according to state records.

Various other structures were also constructed on the grounds, including family quarters, a steam fog signal and boiler house, stable, boathouse, two docks, two oil houses, brick outhouse, paint shed and a tramway, which was used to transport supplies from the boats up the slope to the light.

Atop the tower, a 10-sided cast-iron lantern room housed a Third Order Fresnel lens manufactured by LaPaute of Paris, France.

Before automation, lighthouse keepers manually operated the beacon. The principal keeper’s residence was a two-story brick building with bowed ends and a gabled roof.

Additional living quarters featuring solid copper moldings were added in 1925, and the U.S. Coast Guard constructed a ranch-style residence on the property in 1961 to provide even more housing.

The lighthouse entered a new era in 1972 when it was automated under the direction of the Coast Guard. A fully automated airport beacon lens was installed, allowing for 17 miles of visibility over the waters of Lake Michigan.

Just one year later, the Coast Guard discontinued full-time staffing at the station. The Michigan DNR acquired the property in 1977.

The Gulliver Historical Society was established on Oct. 8, 1987, with preservation of the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse as its primary mission. The lighthouse was added to both the Michigan and National Registers of Historic Places shortly thereafter.

Recognition on the historic registers helped secure grant funding for several restoration projects. In 1989, a Michigan Equity Grant allowed the historical society to establish the Gulliver Historical Museum inside the former fog signal building.

Beginning in 1990, the society began interior and exterior restoration of the lighthouse, though restoration efforts weren't completed until 1994 when complete restoration and painting of the exterior lighthouse and tower were completed utilizing a Michigan Coastal Management Grant.

The work was completed in time for the Lighthouses Centennial Celebration held by the Gulliver Historical Society on Aug. 5, 1995. More than 1,000 visitors reportedly waited in line to climb the tower’s 96 steps during its first public opening.

Interior restoration of the keeper’s living quarters was also completed in 1995, while another Michigan Coastal Management Grant funded additional restoration and painting of the tower in 1996.

Restoration efforts continued when in 2013, the lighthouse underwent a complete restoration through a 50/50 matching Michigan Coastal Management Grant worth $80,000. Four years later, the exterior was repainted after Upper Peninsula winters took their toll on the structure.

A landmark preservation project was completed in 2016 when the original assistant keeper’s house was returned to its original location on the lighthouse grounds.

The building had been moved to McDonald Lake during the 1970s to be used for duck hunting. Don and Barb Gardner of Gulliver donated the structure to the historical society in 2006, but it remained near the entrance to the property until the DNR approved its relocation back into the park a decade later.

Beyond its role in maritime history, the lighthouse has become known for paranormal activity and unexplained encounters. In fact, the annual haunted lighthouse tours are reportedly the Gulliver Historical Society's largest fundraisers.

Kathleen Tedsen, author of books on Michigan travel and the paranormal, co-authored the book series “Haunted Travels of Michigan” along with her sister, Beverlee Rydel. The second book in the series included a section on Gulliver.

Tedsen has been described as a skeptic who spends a lot of her time debunking ghost stories. She measures paranormal activity and records electronic voice phenomena (EVP) on audio, then compares her findings with historical records.

According to a Detroit Free Press article published in 2023, Tedsen, after conducting over 350 paranormal investigations, named Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse as one of the top five places in Michigan with the most compelling paranormal evidence.

Many of the lighthouse's visitors claim to see or experience the ghost of the station’s second keeper, Captain Joseph Willie Townshend, who served from 1901 to 1910.

It has been said the benevolent spirit of the Englishman rearranges silverware if it’s set in the American fashion and smokes a cigar in the living quarters — his wife reportedly used to make him smoke outside.

The spirit Tedsen believes to have found, though, was of Captain William Blanchard's mother-in-law, Mary Pemble. Tedsen said Pemble had cancer and died after a great storm hit the lighthouse in February 1919.

Both Townshend and Pemble died in the house during winters, and as the ground was frozen, the bodies couldn’t be buried right away. Instead, they were stored in the cold, insulated parts of the lighthouse for weeks.

Gulliver Historical Society President Marilyn Fischer believes there are five spirits that haunt the lighthouse. Fischer has served as president of the society for almost 40 years and has authored 14 books, four of which are about the ghosts of Seul Choix Pointe.

The Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse museum and tower are open from Memorial Day through mid-October from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, depending upon availability of volunteer tour guides.

Private group tours are available upon request by calling (906) 283-3860 May through September and (906) 283-3317 October through April. Schools can book Christmas tours early by calling (906) 283-3317.

Haunted lighthouse tours will be held Oct. 17 and 24. More information about the lighthouse and its features can be found by visiting the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse website, www.greatlakelighthouse.com/home.php.

------

Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.

Starting at /week.