Sherwood Point Lighthouse

Oct. 15, 2019
PRINT | E-MAIL

Sherwood Point Lighthouse, near Idlewild, Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin

Built in 1883.

SHERWOOD POINT LIGHT

Location: STURGEON BAY/GREEN BAY/LAKE MICHIGAN
Station Established: 1883
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1883
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1983
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: SQUARE
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/RED ROOF
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Range: 15 miles

HISTORICAL INFORMATION:

  • Congress appropriated funds for a lighthouse to mark the western entry into Sturgeon bay and the ship canal in 1881.
  • By late 1883 the light was lit for the first time.
  • In 1892 the light mechanism was replaced as it had on occasion proved unreliable. The apparatus from another lighthouse was installed along with a fourth order Fresnel lens. A fog signal was also installed.
  • Sometime in the 1930 the light was electrified.
  • In 1983 the light was automated.

Researched and written by Anne Puppa, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.