That’s when it was decided a lighthouse was needed at the point. light from the tower.Ĭredit Dan Wanschura The view of Lake Michigan from atop the Big Sable Point Lighthouse watchtower deck.īig Sable Point is one of the windiest points in Michigan.Today, winds are blowing at over 29 miles per hour.Strong winds like that would often push ships into shallow waters near the shore where they’d wreck.Between 18, there were 10 wrecks near Big Sable Point. And this happened mostly in the basement and the gift shop.”īack in the 50’s and 60’s, Henry Vavrina would climb 130 steps to the top of the watchtower to light the kerosene lamp.These days, the U.S. Other lights would be on that keepers insisted they had turned off as well. “The all 2003 season, the new mannequin Henry exhibit would be on in the morning, and the keepers were sure they had turned it off when closing up the day before,” Peter reads. They look after the lighthouse grounds and help run the lighthouse gift shop and museum.In that museum, there’s a lighted display of Henry Vavrina.The display features a mannequin dressed in Henry’s old lightkeeper uniform and a picture of Henry and his wife. Volunteers from all over the country usually stay at the lighthouse for two-week stints, five to six people at a time. Peter, the executive director of the Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association, is reading from a collection of haunting experiences reported by volunteers at Big Sable Point Lighthouse. “None of them smoked, and there was no smoking allowed in the lighthouse.” “On June and July of 2003, keepers reported smelling cigar smoke during the night several times,” reads Peter Manting. Some lighthouse volunteers say his ghost haunts the lighthouse today. Credit Dan Wanschura Henry Vavrina was keeper at Big Sable Point Lighthouse from 1955 to 1965.

Michigan volunteer lighthouse keeper