At the age of nineteen, Charles was appointed assistant keeper at Pointe Aux Barques, and six years later, he was made head keeper at Port Austin Reef. The total cost for the lighthouse was $80,923.Ĭharles Kimball grew up on his father’s farm next to Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse, and during his childhood, he was enthralled by the interesting tales of lighthouse keepers. Assisting Kimball were his brother Alonzo and Aaron G. The light was displayed for the first time on the night of September 15, 1878, by Keeper Charles Kimball. The lens was made up of seven panels: two clear panels that each covered ninety degrees, and five flash panels on the opposite side of the lens, each covering thirty-six degrees. A fourth-order Henry-Lepaute lens was used to produce a fixed white light for one minute followed by five red flashes, spaced by twelve seconds. The impressive crib foundation was topped by a simple, square, pyramidal, open-framework tower whose light was situated fifty-seven feet above the pier and eighty feet above the lake. The dwelling was finished in July 1878, along with the offshore crib. Once in place, additional courses were added to the top of the crib, and its interior was filled with concrete.Ī two-story, redbrick duplex was built for the lighthouse keepers at the site acquired in 1875 for a land-based lighthouse. An octagonal foundation crib was built at Tawas, where lumber was readily available, and on August 12, 1877, it was towed out to a prepared spot on Port Austin Reef, 1.3 miles from the nearest point of land. The Lighthouse Board had successfully convinced Congress that an offshore lighthouse would be better, and an additional $75,000 for its construction was appropriated on March 3, 1877. Plans for a brick lighthouse with an integrated tower were drawn up, and ground for it was about to be broken when Congress passed an act on July 31, 1876, with the following clause:Īnd the appropriation heretofore made for a light-house at Port Austin, Michigan, may be expended in commencing the construction of the proposed light house on the reef instead of on the shore, provided the total estimate for its completion shall not exceed eighty-five thousand dollars. After difficulties were encountered in obtaining the preferred site on a point two miles northeast of Port Austin, an equally good site, 200 feet east of the first one, was selected in 1875 and a clear title was purchased. On March 3, 1873, Congress appropriated $10,000 for a lighthouse at Port Austin and steps were taken that year to find an appropriate site for the structure. Open-frame lighthouse and fog signal buildings in 1891 The village was soon called Austin’s Dock, followed by Austin Port, and finally Port Austin. Austin, a partner in the lumber firm, built a boat dock and put up a pole with a light to serve as a lighthouse. In 1854, the village was renamed Dwightville, but then P.C. The area was called Bird’s Creek for some time until Bird sold his mill to the lumber firm of Smith, Austin, and Dwight. The first settler of what is now known as Port Austin was Jonathan Bird, who arrived in 1837 and built a water-powered sawmill on a creek the following year. While interesting to view on a calm day, these rock formations are part of a network of dangerous ledges and detached rocky spots that extend up to two-and-half-miles offshore between Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse and Port Austin Reef Lighthouse and have snagged numerous vessels. At the tip of Michigan’s thumb, a few miles east of Port Austin, kayakers can view Turnip Rock, a picturesque sea stack, and Thumbnail Rock, a finger-like projection from a sandstone cliff on the mainland.
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