A 168 page book containing 175 four-color aerial photographs of all Michigan’s lighthouses!

From the author, John L. Wagner

With 3,288 miles of shoreline, a distance greater than the entire east coast of the United States, Michigan enjoys a special association with the Great Lakes. At one time, Michigan had over 100 manned lighthouses, more than any other state in the union. These lights were an important part of the state’s history and played an essential role in its development.

From the barren, rocky-faced cliffs of Huron Island in Lake Superior, with the keeper’s little house of stone perched atop, to the vast sand dunes of Lake Michigan beyond Big Sable Point, to the candy-striped White Shoal Light standing in the ice-choked Straits of Mackinac—all represent the landscape of this great state.

Michigan’s lighthouses have now all been captured in a spectacular collection of aerial photographs. Taken over a six year period, this photographic essay is available in a creatively designed, 11"x14", 168 page, hard cover, table-top book. The lights and their environments are vividly portrayed, photographed with a 6X7cm medium format camera and quality lenses.

The photographs reveal the dramatic settings of Michigan lighthouses, as well as their current condition. Spectacle Reef and Stannard Rock are light stations carved from stone a century ago. Rock of Ages and Granite Island Lights were built on rock that required blasting the surface level. White Shoal and Gray’s Reef are “off-shore” lights constructed on crib structures. Charity Island, Waugoshance, Fourteen Mile Point and Poverty Island have been vandalized and are decayed and crumbling. Others, such as Pointe Aux Barques, Sturgeon Point, South Manitou Island, Grand Traverse and the Lightship Huron have been restored to their original condition and are open to the visiting public. Also included are dramatic before and after photographs of the recently restored lighthouses at St. Helena Island and Port Austin Reef.

Offering a perspective unavailable to the average person, this collection of 175 color photographs provides an extraordinary aerial view of Michigan’s lighthouses and the topography of its shoreline and waters. This photographic essay will complement the home or office of lighthouse enthusiasts, historians, Michigan travelers, boaters, aviators and admirers of photographic art. The book is printed in the United States of America.

The author and pilot/photographer, John L. Wagner, resides in East Lansing and is a graduate of Western Michigan University and its flight training program. Wagner owns the 180 horsepower Cessna 172 from which the photographs were taken. In addition to the book, an exhibit of large photographic prints of all 100+ lighthouses tours the state.

Individual photographic enlargements are also available for purchase. A complete description and price list is available on request.