The first Grand Marais lighthouse light its light on September 1, 1885. Over the next few years, storms beat against and damaged the first lighthouse until 1919 when storms damaged it beyond repair. Before the Gales of November of 1920 a new lighthouse guided mariners from a slightly different and more protected location. In 1922, that light, the current light, was moved from its protected 1920s location to the end of the breakwater where it stands today.

“The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening.”

– Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Over the decade plus that I’ve lived here, I’ve photographed this humble light, and to watch it stand against towering waves inspires. The light itself holds a height of 48 feet above the big lake and the spray of waves often reach above that.

“What does a lighthouse do? I ask myself. It never moves. It cannot hike up its rocky skirt and dash into the ocean to rescue the foundering ship. It cannot calm the waters or clear the shoals. It can only cast light into the darkness. It can only point the way. Yet, through one lighthouse, you guide many ships. Show this old lighthouse the way.”

― Lisa Wingate, The Prayer Box

The light flashes every 2.5 seconds and sailors can see it from 12 miles away. It stands at the mouth of the harbor day and night, rain and shine and unyielding against the lake’s biggest storms. A place to visit on calm days and on rough a place to watch.

If you are a lighthouse, you cannot hide yourself; if you hide yourself, you cannot be a lighthouse!

— Mehmet Murat ildan

Download the tear sheet: Lighthouse and Waves