Poe Reef Light

Many attempts were made to position a lightship here but it was difficult.{{cite web|url=http://www.uscglightshipsailors.org/poe_reef_lightship_station_history.htm|title=Poe Reef Lightships history.}} Four different lightships served beginning in 1893:[https://web.archive.org/web/20080616093409/http://www.lighthousecentral.com/lighthouse_gallery.php4?lighthouse=Poe+Reef+Light Roach, Jerry, Lighthouse Central, Poe Reef Light The Ultimate Guide to East Michigan Lighthouses] (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - July 2006). {{ISBN|978-0-9747977-1-7}}. Lightships Nos. 62, 59, 96, and No. 99.

The Poe Reef Light was an extension of the effort—beginning in 1870 through 1910—where engineers began to build lights on isolated islands, reefs, and shoals that were significant navigational hazards. Until that time, Light ships were the only practical way to mark the hazards, but were dangerous for the sailors who manned them, and difficult to maintain. "Worse, regardless of the type of anchors used lightships could be blown off their expected location in severe storms, making them a potential liability in the worst weather when captains would depend on the charted location of these lights to measure their own ship's distance from dangerous rocks."[http://clarke.cmich.edu/lighthouses/lhhist1.htm Beacons in the Night, Clarke Historical Library.] Central Michigan University.Hyde, Charles K., and Ann and John Mahan. The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995. {{ISBN|9780814325544}}. See, United States lightship Huron (LV-103).

The Poe Reef is one of several that mark the passage through the South Channel. The other major light is Fourteen Foot Shoal Light. The decision was made by the United States Lighthouse Service in 1926 to construct a permanent light here.{{cite web|url=http://www.michiganlighthouse.org/lighthouse_detail.php74.htm |title=Michigan Lighthouse Fund, Poe Reef Light. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003083732/http://www.michiganlighthouse.org/lighthouse_detail.php74.htm |archivedate=2011-10-03 }} The Poe Reef Light was completed in 1928.

The Poe Reef Light is part of what became a complex of 14 reef lights in Michigan waters, which was intended to help ships navigate through and around the shoals and hazards of the Great Lakes.[https://books.google.com/books?id=bBvbpF0utMwC&pg=PA249 Roberts, Bruce; Jones, Ray. (September 2002) American Lighthouses, 2nd: A Definitive Guide] pp. 246-250 Publisher: Globe Pequot Press 304 pp {{ISBN|978-0-7627-2269-3}}. It is also "part of a series of a significant offshore light construction projects being undertaken in the Straits area in the late 1920s." The same crew that built this light also built St. Martin's Light from almost the same plan.[http://www.midwestconnection.com/Lighthouses/StrtsMackinac/PoeReefLT.htm Midwest Connection, Poe Reef Light.]

The Poe Reef lighthouse marks the north side of the South Channel of the Straits of Mackinac, while the Fourteen Foot Shoal Light marks the south side of the channel. Most sailing vessels had used the channel on the north side of Bois Blanc Island,{{cite web|url=http://www.lighthousesrus.org/HuronNE.htm |title=Interactive map, pictures, descriptions of Northern Lake Huron lights. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611120356/http://www.lighthousesrus.org/HuronNE.htm |archivedate=June 11, 2008 }} but the growth of steamboat traffic increased use of the South Channel.

The Poe Reef Light shares designs with a twin, Martin Reef Light (all white, however, and with different windows in the fourth floor), which was built in 1927 by the same construction crew. The Poe lighthouse was originally painted all white, which sometimes confused mariners because they shared colors and a common structural design. Thus, a decision was made to paint Poe in contrasting bands.

The Poe Reef station was designed so that the onsite crew could also remotely operate the Fourteen Foot Shoal Light. Subsequently, both lights have been fully automated.

The Poe Reef diaphone fog horn is still in current service.

In 2005, the Poe Reef Light lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the parallel state inventory of historic sites.

"Maritime">National Park Service, [http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/light/poereef.htm Maritime Heritage Program, Inventory of Historic Lights, Poe Reef Light.]

The reef and light are named for lighthouse designer Orlando M. Poe.{{cite web|url=http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/Huron/poereef.htm |title=Wobser, David, Boatnerd.com, Poe Reef Light. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517024955/http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/Huron/poereef.htm |archivedate=2008-05-17 }} During ten years of service as Engineer for the Eleventh Lighthouse District he designed eight lighthouses,Pepper, Terry, [http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/closeups/ompoe/ompoe.htm Seeing the Light, Orlando Metcalfe Poe: The Great Engineer of the Western Great Lakes] biography. namely: New Presque Isle Light (1870) on Lake Huron; Lake Michigan's South Manitou Island Light (1872); Grosse Point Lighthouse (1873) in Evanston, Illinois; Au Sable Light (1874) on Lake Superior; Wind Point Light (1880) near Racine, Wisconsin; Outer Island Light (1874) in the Apostle Islands; Little Sable Point Light (1874) on Lake Michigan, and Seul Choix Light near Manistique, Michigan which was completed in 1895; and his crowning achievement, Spectacle Reef Light. Others consider his "crowning achievement" to be the Poe Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

The closest mainland location to the lighthouse is Cordwood Point, a privately developed summer settlement east of Cheboygan. The lighthouse is visible from Lighthouse Point near the ruins of the Cheboygan Main Light Station in Cheboygan State Park and that locale will provide an opportunity for a picture, albeit from approximately {{convert|3|mi}}. Another location from which the Poe Reef Light can be seen from land is from Gordon Turner Park, in Cheboygan, Michigan, at the mouth of the Cheboygan River.

A private boat is one way to see the light up close, although it and its crib are closed{{cite web|url=http://www.lighthousefriends.com/macstraits.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030518033305/http://www.lighthousefriends.com/macstraits.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2003-05-18 |title=Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits. }} and "off limits to the public."[https://books.google.com/books?id=_BBYsYzFQfkC&pg=PA26 Roberts, Bruce; Jones, Ray, (August 2005) Lighthouses of Michigan: A Guidebook and Keepsake] Globe Pequot Press 96 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-7627-3738-3}} pp. 26-27.

Another way to view the Poe Light from the water is on the eastbound lighthouse cruises offered by Shepler's Ferry Service.{{cite web|url=http://www.sheplersferry.com/lighthouses/lighthouses.html|title=Sheplers Ferry, Lighthouse Cruises.|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511202315/http://www.sheplersferry.com/lighthouses/lighthouses.html|archivedate=2008-05-11}}Pure Michigan, [http://www.michigan.org/Property/Detail.aspx?p=G15799 Poe Reef Light.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202232025/http://www.michigan.org/Property/Detail.aspx?p=G15799 |date=2009-02-02 }} Narration is provided by members of the Great Lakes Lightkeepers Association, and a portion of the proceeds go to their cause.[http://www.wmta.org/poe-reef-light-station-87/ West Michigan Travel Association, Poe Reef Light.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517231353/http://www.wmta.org/poe-reef-light-station-87/ |date=May 17, 2008 }}

The Poe Reef Light can be seen from the air by chartered seaplane; these amphibious machines can be hired to make a tour of the Mackinac Straits and environs.{{cite web|url=http://www.mightymac.org/seatour.htm|title=A seaplane tour of the Straits}}

Because of its relatively remote location, the Poe Reef Light does not have a high iconographic profile.{{cite web|url=http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/SPECIAL01/80519001|title=Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses, which fails to mention Poe Reef Light.}} Detroit News. Nevertheless, an embroidered image is available.{{cite web|url=http://www.embsupply.com/Embroidery_Designs_12341.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710185449/http://www.embsupply.com/Embroidery_Designs_12341.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-10 |title=Poe Reef Light embroidery. }}

• Lighthouses in the United States

{{Gallery

|File:Poereef.jpg|Poe Reef Light in its original, all white, paint

|File:Martin Reef Light Station (Mackinac County, Michigan).jpg|Martin Reef Light, Poe Reef Light's near twin

}}

{{reflist|33em}}

• "A Tour of the Lights of the Straits." Michigan History 70 (Sep/Oct 1986), pp. 17–29.
• Taylor, Paul (October 2009) Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer (Kent State University Press) {{ISBN|978-1-60635-040-9}}.
• {{cite web|url=http://clarke.cmich.edu/lighthouses/lhkeep1.htm |author= Wagner, John L. |title=Beacons Shining in the Night: A Lighthouse Keeper's Life, | publisher=Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University}}
• {{cite web|url=http://clarke.cmich.edu/lighthouses/index.htm |author= Wagner, John L. |title=Beacons Shining in the Night: The Lighthouses of Michigan | publisher=Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University}}

{{commons category|Poe Reef Light}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030518033305/http://www.lighthousefriends.com/macstraits.html Lighthouses in the Mackinac Straits.]
• [http://www.us-lighthouses.com/displayphoto.php?ArchiveID=4252 Photograph at Lighthouses.com.]
• [http://www.us-lighthouses.com/displaypage.php?LightID=230 Poe Reef Light at U.S. Lighthouses.com.]
• [http://www.terrypepper.com/Lights/huron/poereef/index.htm Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Poe Reef Light.]

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1929

Category:Houses completed in 1929

Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan

Category:Buildings and structures in Cheboygan County, Michigan

Category:Transportation in Cheboygan County, Michigan

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cheboygan County, Michigan