Located on a peninsula jutting out into Green Bay and Lake Michigan is historic Door County, Wisconsin. If visiting by boat just North of Bailey’s Harbor, you’ll come across the 9-acre Cana Island that features the county’s iconic lighthouse. The cream-colored tower was built in 1869, illuminating the shores of Lake Michigan for over 150 years. The island was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and has stood as a reminder of the area’s extensive maritime history.
The 89-foot-tall Cana Island Lighthouse was built for just $12,792.55 and was the tallest building in Door County at the time. The lighthouse beacon was officially lit on January 28, 1869. During its first year of operation, surveillance operations documented 4,862 ships safely passing the shore during daylight hours. For its first 75 years, the lighthouse was manned and maintained by onsite keepers. The keepers would have to repeatedly fill the beacon with heated lard from the oil house to keep its flame constantly burning. The six-sided stone oil house is also located on the island and is the only building of its kind on the Great Lakes. In 1944 the beacon was changed to an electric light and keepers were no longer needed. The lighthouse still functions as a navigational light of the Great Lakes.
We took a fantastic tour of the property with Hal Wilson, an ex-Coast Guard service man. Inside the lighthouse, a 97-step spiral staircase leads visitors to a gallery deck with a panoramic view of Lake Michigan and the Door County peninsula. The current residents of the island are past lighthouse keepers, assistants, and vacation home owners. Access to Cana Island is managed by a dirt road causeway from the mainland. Occasionally with high water levels, the causeway can become flooded requiring alternate transportation. As a complimentary service for guests, tractor and hay wagon rides are available to safely shuttle guests across the island.
The Cana Island Lighthouse is open seasonally (May through October,) seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The tractor and hay wagon run over the causeway to assure safe travel to the island from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The last chance to climb the tower starts at 4:30 p.m. For more information and daily updates, such as weather closures, visit the Cana Island Lighthouse Facebook page. Admission for adults is $12, youth 5-17, $10 for seniors and veterans, and children 4 years and under are free. If visiting with children, only youth 5 years and older that are 42 or more inches tall are permitted to climb the stairs inside the lighthouse safely.