Peche Island Rear Range Light in Marine City, Michigan – the retired lighthouse

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3 years ago Nathan

Isle aux Pêches, French for Fisheries Island, is a Canadian Island situated at the confluence of the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair.
On July 13, 1892, Congress passed an act that provided for a ship channel with a minimum depth of six meters to be dredged in the shallows of the connecting waters of the Great Lakes.
Isle aux Peches Range Lights were established on April 15, 1898, with the front light consisting of a mast supported by a pile of clusters driven in about six meters of water. John F. Kerby was hired as the first head keeper of the range lights, and he would have six different assistants helping him with the lights during the fourteen years he served at the station.
The range lights were carried away by ice in the spring of 1899, and, despite new piles had been driven by April 20, 1899, on July 27, a tugboat carried away the front light. It was re-established roughly a week later, but it was carried away by another vessel on September 17.
Both range lights were again carried away by ice in the spring of 1900, and also, regularly, in following years.

Located in American waters just north of the border to Canada, a tower was constructed in 1908 to guide ships passing through the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, and the light remained in operation until 1983, when was replaced by a modern skeletal structure.
Michigan Bank – Port Huron acquired the lighthouse from Luedtke Engineering Company, which was contracted to scrap the lighthouse, and then restored the structure and placed it to its current location at Lighthouse Park in Marine City, Michigan.

Ever since, visitors to Lighthouse Park have reported encountering the spirit of a man who appears to be carrying a lantern standing on the lighthouse’s upper deck. Others report feeling a strange presence, or witnessing mysterious orbs and flashing lights that appear late at night. Despite these claims, no deaths are believed to have occurred at the Peche Island Rear Range Light, and the identity of the man whose spirit allegedly resides there remains unknown.

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