Split Rock Lighthouse

Photo courtesy of Randy Briggs, Brooklyn Park, MN.
Sailors have been traveling on the world's oceans and lakes for thousands of years, and it has always been a very dangerous task. Rough seas and rocky shorelines have doomed many vessels down through the years and shipwrecks were once fairly common.

Lighthouses have long served as warning beacons all along the world's coasts. Many a ships' captain has breathed a huge sigh of relief upon spotting the faint glow from a lighthouse coming through the fog. Modern navigational systems have made sea travel much safer than in years past, but many of those stately old lighthouses are still in operation, some as maritime museums and others still serving as beacons in the night. Lighthouses have played a major role in the history of many of the world's coastal areas and I'm glad they're still around!

Most people think of lighthouses as landmarks dotting the shores of the earth's oceans, and most of them are indeed on coastal islands and rock bluffs. But there are also many lighthouses guarding the shores of the world's larger lakes. Today's picture features one such "lake" lighthouse: Two Harbors, Minnesota's Split Rock Lighthouse (on Lake Superior).

Split Rock Lighthouse was constructed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in response to two terrible storms that wreaked havoc on 29 vessels in November of 1905. The lighthouse was completed in 1910 after which it served Lake Superior maritime traffic well for several decades. Spectacular advances in navigational technology eventually made the lighthouse obsolete, and it was finally closed in 1969. Today, the Minnesota Historical Society operates beautiful Split Rock Lighthouse as a living museum to Great Lakes maritime history.

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