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Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help raise $10,000 towards the $30,000 cost of a Historic Structures Report. Once the report is complete, we can restore this historic Great Lakes lighthouse!

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Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help Restore Waugoshance Lighthouse!

Help raise $10,000 towards the $30,000 cost of a Historic Structures Report. Once the report is complete, we can restore this historic Great Lakes lighthouse!

Help raise $10,000 towards the $30,000 cost of a Historic Structures Report. Once the report is complete, we can restore this historic Great Lakes lighthouse!

Help raise $10,000 towards the $30,000 cost of a Historic Structures Report. Once the report is complete, we can restore this historic Great Lakes lighthouse!

Help raise $10,000 towards the $30,000 cost of a Historic Structures Report. Once the report is complete, we can restore this historic Great Lakes lighthouse!

Mari Vaydik
Mari Vaydik
Mari Vaydik
Mari Vaydik
1 Campaign |
Mackinaw City, United States
$10,631 USD 91 backers
106% of $10,000 Fixed Goal Fixed Goal

Executive Summary

Watch VideoThe Waugoshance Lighthouse Preservation Society has the opportunity to obtain a 2 for 1 match from the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program in order to fund the completion of a Historic Structure Report. We need to submit this report to several federal entities before any renovation work can begin on the lighthouse. If we raise $10,000, the State program will double our amount and give us $20,000! The total $30,000, funded by our Indiegogo supporters (you!) and the State, will allow us to pay for the report and then begin renovation on this historic Lake Michigan lighthouse. Please join us in helping to restore Waugoshance!

 

 

 

About the Waugoshance Lighthouse

After a number of groundings in the early 1820s, mariners began petitioning the federal government to construct a navigation aid on Waugoshance Shoal, located off the coast of the northwestern lower peninsula of Michigan.  As an interim measure, the wooden vessel Lois McLane, which had been converted into a lightship, was placed on Waugoshance Shoal in 1832, making it the first lighthouse to serve in the Great Lakes.

In 1850, the decision was made to construct a more permanent light on the shoal and work began with the construction of a timber crib on St. Helena Island. The crib was then towed to Waugoshance and sunk in place with the weight of huge boulders.  Atop the crib, a brick tower was constructed with a height of seventy-six feet, twenty feet base diameter, and with walls five feet thick. At its completion in 1851, Waugoshance Lighthouse was crowned with a large "bird cage" style lantern room, one of only three lighthouses to be equipped with this style of lantern room in all of the Great Lakes. The lantern was equipped with the first Fourth Order Fresnel Lens to be installed in any Great Lakes lighthouse. Displaying a fixed white light, varied by a white flash every 45 seconds, this impressive French optic was visible to mariners at a distance of sixteen miles.

Waugoshance Lighthouse was deactivated in 1910 when a newer lighthouse was built up the coast at White Shoal. Despite deactivation, the lighthouse remains an important part of Michigan maritime history and is still used for navigation today. In both in its active and inactive state, the lighthouse has been used for 162 years by both commercial vessels and pleasure/sport boaters to mark the entrance to the Straits of Mackinac, signaling the turn into a treacherous area of the GreatLakes. Waugoshance Lighthouse is located at latitude 45.8101 and longitude -85.1324.

 

 

About the Waugoshance Lighthouse Preservation Society

In 1998 the Waugoshance Lighthouse Preservation Society (WLPS) was incorporated as a 501(c)3 with the mission to preserve and to restore this historic castle of the Great Lakes.  Until recently, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) had only authorized the WLPS to stabilize and clean debris from the structure through a lease agreement, with no restoration work allowed.  In 2011, the USCG and the National Park Service (NPS) approved the transfer of ownership of Waugoshance Lighthouse to the WLPS. However, in order to obtain permanent ownership of the lighthouse, and more importantly to begin restoration, the WLPS must secure $10,000 to fund a Historic Structure Report, which is required by the governing entities before restoration can begin.

 

 

How You Can Help

Your gift of any amount will help the WLPS pay for the cost of preparing a Historic Structure Report for the federal government. The United States Coast Guard and the National Parks Service require this report before the WLPS can begin any renovation work on the lighthouse. Until now, WLPS has only been able to engage in preserving the status quo. Achieving our $10,000 goal means that we can begin the important work of restoring this state and national treasure to its former glory. Once we reach $10,000, the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program will match us 2-to-1 with an additional $20,000, which will fully fund the report. We ask that you please help to obtain these matching funds so that we can begin to truly save this historic structure.

Thank you for your considering a gift to help preserve and restore Michigan maritime history!

*Thumbnail photo credit: Marge Beaver, Header photo: Mari Vaydik

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Choose your Perk

Gratitude shout out

$25 USD
Gifts at this level will receive a shout out on the Waugoshance Facebook page, thanking you publicly for your generosity.
21 claimed

Listing on the WLPS website

$50 USD
You will receive the previous perk, plus your name will be listed as a supporter on the Waugoshance Lighthouse web page, upon completion of the campaign.
27 claimed

Photo/note from WLPS President

$100 USD
You will receive the previous perks, plus an 8x10 historic photo of the lighthouse and a personal note from WLPS President, Christopher West.
19 claimed

Tiny lighthouse sculpture

$250 USD
You will receive the previous perks, plus a very cool "thumbnail size" sculpture re-creation of Waugoshance lighthouse.
Estimated Shipping
November 2012
6 out of 30 of claimed

Visit the lighthouse!

$500 USD
You will receive the $25, $50 and $100 perks, plus an invitation to join us for our yearly board member outing (via boat) to Waugoshance in 2013. This six-hour trip is a truly unique opportunity to see this historic structure with the people who know it best!
Estimated Shipping
June 2013
3 out of 10 of claimed

Snowmobile to the lighthouse!

$1,000 USD
You will receive the $25, $50 and $100 perks, plus a guided trip for you and a friend to visit the lighthouse via snowmobile (supplied by us) on a mutually agreeable date in the winter of 2013. WLPS President, Chris West, will guide you on this adventure to see Waugoshance up close and personal!
Estimated Shipping
February 2013
0 out of 4 of claimed

Private boat trip to Waugy!

$3,000 USD
You will receive the $25, $50 and $100 perks, plus a private boat trip for you and ten of your friends to visit the lighthouse on a mutually agreeable date in spring or fall of 2013. This trip will give you the opportunity to cruise under the Mackinac Bridge and then out to Waugoshance Shoal to visit your favorite Great Lakes lighthouse!
Estimated Shipping
June 2013
0 out of 3 of claimed
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