Forty Mile Point Light

Forty Mile Point Light is a lighthouse located in Presque Isle County on Hammond Bay on the western shore of Lake Huron in Rogers Township, Michigan USA. Unlike many Great Lakes lighthouses, Forty Mile Point Light does not mark a significant harbor or river mouth. Rather, it was constructed with the intent that as one sailed from Mackinaw Point to the Saint Clair River, one would never be out of viewing range of a lighthouse. With no river or harbor to use for a name, the light is named on the basis that it is 40 miles (64 km) sailing distance from Mackinaw Point. 

Ahoy Matey!

 The original lens was a fourth order Fresnel lens designed and manufactured by Henry-Lepaute in Paris. It had six bulls-eye flash panels, and the clockwork would rotate it so that it would emit a white flash every ten seconds. The lens now in place is the third or fourth such lens to occupy that position.

During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden vessels were lost. The steamer Joseph S. Fay ran aground, and a part of its hull rests on the beach approximately 200 feet (61 m) north of the Lighthouse (pictured here). There is a Michigan historical marker honoring Forty Mile Light, and a marker concerning the "Graveyard of Ships" which states:

• Registered Historical Marker Site L2186 was erected 2007 Forty Mile Point Lighthouse / Graveyard of Ships. The Graveyard of Ships marker states:
  • Named by seventeenth century French explorers La Mer Douce the sweet or freshwater sea, Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes. It has over 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of shoreline and contains 30,000 islands, among them Manitoulin, the world's largest freshwater island. Violent storms on the "sweet sea" have made it dangerous for ships. As of 2006, 1,200 wrecks had been recorded. During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden vessels were lost. One of these, the steamer Joseph S. Fay, ran aground. A portion of its hull rests on the beach approximately 200 feet (61 m) north of the Forty Mile Lighthouse.