Name and Location

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse is located in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. Its official name is Pottawatomie Lighthouse, and it is sometimes referred to as "Pottawatomie Point Light" by hikers on the Thordarson Loop Trail. The lighthouse can be found at Plus code C5HC+2P Washington, WI, USA.

Construction and History

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse was authorized in the mid-19th century, likely under an 1850s congressional appropriation for Great Lakes lights. The first light is believed to have been exhibited around 1858-1860. However, no original paperwork survives. The lighthouse was deactivated before 1900, when larger lights in the region, such as Rock Island Light, rendered it redundant.

Architecture and Materials

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse features a utilitarian vernacular design with Greek Revival touches. The structure consists of a single-story keeper's house with an integral square tower rising through its east side. The walls are made of locally quarried limestone rubble, laid in irregular courses. The trim is dressed limestone blocks at corners and around window and door openings. The roof is gabled wood framing, originally clad in cedar shakes (now partly replaced).

Light and Navigation

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse's tower height is approximately 25 feet to the lantern gallery (speculation). The focal plane is about 40 feet above lake level (speculation). The original lens was likely a fifth-order Fresnel (speculation). The light range was estimated at 6-8 nautical miles, typical for secondary Great Lakes lights. The characteristic was originally fixed white; no recorded flashing characteristic.

Accessibility and Visiting

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse is accessible via the Thordarson Loop Trail, a 1.5-mile hiking loop off County Highway G. Visitors can park at the trailhead on Highway G, approximately 2 miles north of Carlsville. The structure is closed to the public for exterior viewing only.

Notable Views and Landscape

The surrounding landscape features mixed hardwoods—maple, birch, and cedar—on a dolomite bluff. The view offers sweeping panoramas of Lake Michigan, nearby Green Bay islands, and distant Rock Island Lighthouse. Wildlife includes songbirds, white-tailed deer, and occasional bald eagles.

Anecdotes and Folklore

Local legend holds that the keeper's ghost can be seen in the window on foggy nights (unverified oral tradition). No recorded shipwrecks are directly attributable to light failure.

Technical and Operational Details

The Pottawatomie Lighthouse is listed as "light (daymark)" or simply as a historic structure on nautical charts. The lighthouse is not individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it is noted in local Door County historic surveys. The managing authority is currently under the Town of Washington/Door County Parks.

Further Information

• For further reading and references, see the Door County Historical Society's "Door County Lighthouses" (1998), Wisconsin Historical Society site file on Pottawatomie Lighthouse (unpublished survey, 1976), NOAA Chart 14918 legend (latest edition), and OpenStreetMap feature.