12/08/2025
This morning's History Lesson: Long before planes, trains, automobiles, or even rudimentary roads for that matter, water transportation was the only feasible way to move people and goods around the Great Lakes region in the most efficient manner. With 10,322 miles of shoreline, the Great Lakes presented ship captains with numerous hazards to navigation an encounter with any one of which could spell disaster for a voyage. Hence the need for the hundreds of lighthouses that were eventually established to serve as aids to navigation. Bordered by eight U.S. states and Canadian province of Ontario to the north, the Great Lakes remain home to over 350 active lighthouses which is the highest concentration of these historical landmarks in North America. Commercial maritime shipping remains important to the economy and growth of the Great Lakes region. However, modern electronic aids to navigation employed aboard ships today have rendered the old lighthouses redundant for the most part. Still, lighthouses remain as magnets to travelers drawn to their often scenic locations and interested in the maritime heritage of the Great Lakes. - Wayne S. Sapulski, GLLKA Historian (Chart graphic courtesy of Michigan Sea Grant)
