Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station 11 miles (18 km) north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), the Michigan Audubon Society (MAS), and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1996. The three entities share governance of the site. The museum is operated by the GLSHS. The museum exhibits artifacts from shipwrecks from the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve and the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Admission to the museum includes a tour of historic buildings with displays that interpret the Great Lakes maritime, United States Coast Guard, and US Life-Saving Service history.
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum complex
Aerial view of the Whitefish Point Light Station on July 21, 1947.
Colored areas are added to 1947 photograph to indicate changes to the site since 1983 - red denotes proposed museum wings.
The bell from the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
The Whitefish Point Light is a lighthouse located in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the southeastern shores of Lake Superior, it sits at the edge of Whitefish Point leading to Whitefish Bay. Constructed in 1849, it is the oldest operating lighthouse in the Upper Peninsula. All vessels entering or exiting Lake Superior pass near Whitefish Point. The area is infamously known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" due to the high number of shipwrecks in the area, most famously the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
Whitefish Point Light in July 2018
Vintage image of Whitefish Point Light
The DCB-224 Carlisle & Finch aerobeacon in operation at Whitefish Point on November 3, 2007.
The light-emitting diode lantern installed at Whitefish Point in August 2011.