South Fox Display at Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival

Volunteers from South Fox Island Lighthouse will be manning a table at the 44th annual Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival in Livonia on Saturday.  For more info, please visit https://www.greatlakesshipwreckfestival.org/

If one looks at a map of routes coming down the lake from the Straits to either Milwaukee or Chicago, major ports of the day, most traffic took protection amongst the NW Michigan islands before crossing over to the Wisconsin shore. There was also an active “wooding” business on various islands, providing fuel to early steamers. Ships later transitioned from wood to coal, allowing them to remain further offshore. Still, the islands remained hazardous because of the shoals.

Ironically, the northeast side of the island was also noted in ship’s publications as a safe harbor from southwest winds.

It remains a challenging place to visit.