St. Martin Island Light, Navigation lighthouse in Fairbanks Township, United States.
St. Martin Island Light is a navigation lighthouse in Michigan featuring a white hexagonal tower made of iron plates supported by six exterior steel posts with latticed buttresses. The skeletal frame design leaves the support structure clearly visible from the outside.
Congress approved construction of this lighthouse in 1893 to mark passage between St. Martin and Little Gull Islands and improve maritime safety. The design used an innovative open-frame structure that became the only example of its kind on the Great Lakes.
The lighthouse represents a maritime heritage milestone as the only example of a pure exoskeletal tower design on the Great Lakes in the United States.
The tower stands on a protected island that is not directly accessible to visitors by foot, but it can be seen clearly from the water. Taking a boat tour in Green Bay offers the best views of the structure from a distance.
The surrounding island was acquired in 2013 by The Nature Conservancy and now serves as part of a wildlife refuge for migratory birds. This makes the location an important stopover for birds traveling during their seasonal migrations.
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