At the Harbour Lights Club Great Lakes District 11/9/02 mtg. we visited Port Washington lighthouse located on Lake Michigan in the small but quaint Wisconsin town of Port Washington, up the coast from M'waukee.

This light has undergone an amazing and extensive restoration. The tower and lantern
room had been wholly removed by the Coast Guard in 1934 and the Coast Guard abandoned
the site in 1992. The restoration was greatly assisted by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
who, to honor people of its heritage settled in the area, donated a new tower and
lantern room. These were built entirely in Luxembourg, then shipped to Wisconsin for
installation.

Click here to read a diary about the restoration and see photos of the light before and during its restoration.

Although the interior is not ready for public touring, the light was opened especially
for our visit! And we got the extra special treat of being able to climb the tower.

Here the group gets regaled with tales of restoration.



Beautiful job on the cream city brickwork.



The light sits high on a bluff which it shares with St. Mary's.



Dusk settles in on overcast day.





Across the street from the lighthouse, looking down towards the business end of Port Washington.



I'll let others add details of the meeting if they wish.

Tim

Nice photos Tim. Thanks for sharing. Dan

Tim,

Thanks so much for sharing the great photos and the link to the history and restoration of the Port Washington Lighthouse. Amazing little tidbit about the restoration of the tower being donated by the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and manufactured and sent over from there.

Bert

Wow, what a transformation! This lighthouse is beautiful.

This is a lighthouse that some of us got a chance to visit on our way back from the Door County Pre-Rosemont tour last June.

We didn't get to go in, but it was clearly an impressive turn-around.

Just what I wanted. A great reason to go back out to Wisconsin. When I was out there last the lantern room room work had not been started so it was a site I passed on getting to. I saw 20 lights in 2 days so time was short and I had to give something up. Now I can go back.

Thanks for posting the pictures and the link to the website.

shirin

I just got done looking at the link. That was quite a renovation. The brick work is fabulous! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Bob

Now that's a job to be proud of! Thanks for sharing your adventure Tim - wish I could have seen it in person, but this is the next best thing.

Thanks for sharing the pics, Tim. Hope you got some of the interior that will be coming. I photographed the Port Washington lighthoused last summer from the outside but didn't get to see the interior.

Gary