I was up and on the road from Sister Bay at 8 a.m. for the fifth day of the trip. It was another windy morning, which meant another no-go on renting a boat to reach some of the lights out in the bay. After the previous day’s ferry rides, the weather was once again shaping the itinerary.
A new plan and a raised bridge
I pivoted. If I couldn’t get out on the bay, I was determined to capture the remaining lights I could reach along Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shore. That would mean driving south past Milwaukee for a few of them. It was a longer day on the road than the island exploring of Day 4, but there were still plenty of lighthouses ahead.
I reached Sturgeon Bay around 8:40 a.m. and promptly found myself stuck in traffic: the bridge was up. It was a reminder that this is still a working waterfront, where the road sometimes waits for the waterway.
The drive south carried me away from the villages and wooded stretches of northern Door County and toward the more open landscape of the lower peninsula. Farmland, scattered communities, and stretches of trees replace the closely spaced vacation stops farther north. Continuing toward the Two Rivers area brings the journey back to Lake Michigan, where the shoreline changes character again: sand, dune grass, and pine woods take the place of the rocky island edges I had photographed the day before.
My first destination was Point Beach State Forest, just north of Two Rivers. I arrived at 9:50 a.m., ready to trade the car for a short walk and my first lighthouse photographs of the day.
Rawley Point Lighthouse: white steel above the dunes
Rawley Point sits right beside a beautiful beach. Point Beach State Forest protects roughly 3,000 acres and six miles of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline, with wooded trails and dunes framing the water. The combination of sand, pines, and open sky makes this a very different lighthouse setting from the stone bluffs and small islands farther north.
A quick walk along the boardwalk, and there it was: a beautiful white light rising above the trees and beach grass. The tall steel framework, red lantern roof, and white keeper’s house made a striking subject on this sunny, clear morning.
A light station has stood at Rawley Point since 1853. The present steel tower was installed in 1894, replacing the earlier brick tower. Its open framework braces the central column and supports the lantern high above the shore. The old brick tower was shortened, roofed, and incorporated into the keeper’s house, so part of that earlier station remains in the building beside it.
The lighthouse was built to help ships recognize this projecting stretch of coast and navigate the waters off the point. Today it is still an active Coast Guard beacon. The light stands 113 feet above the lake surface and is visible up to 19 miles away. It is also one of the state forest’s best-known landmarks: visitors can photograph it from the beach, although tours are normally not available.
I spent about twenty minutes here, working through different angles and compositions. From the sand, the house and tower formed one view; closer to the dune grass, the structure’s height became the focus. Trees offered another way to frame it. The clear sky and bright white lighthouse gave me plenty to work with before getting back on the road.
Area and lighthouse background: Wisconsin DNR: Point Beach State Forest · Rawley Point Lighthouse.