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Historical Downtown Baileys Harbor Walking Tour
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Baileys Harbor Upper Range Light

Introduction

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The Baileys Harbor upper and lower range lights - also known as leading lights - are a pair of lighthouses - used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel. This is the upper light of the pair in Baileys Harbor. The range lights were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Note that you can walk directly to the lower range light (the next stop on your tour) by taking the boardwalk to the south of this range light - you can see the lower light at the end of the boardwalk. Also note that this boardwalk crosses The Ridges Sanctuary (the fifth stop on this tour). Stop in at the Ridges building to purchase a $5 trail pass if you plan to walk the Ridges trails.

Images

Sky, Building, Window, Tree

Backstory and Context

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The range lights replaced the Baileys Harbor Lighthouse in 1870 at a cost of $6,000. They are approximately 980 feet apart and aligned on a 340° bearing line to guide boats safely into the harbor. After 1969, the Coast Guard removed lighting equipment from the original buildings and replaced them with a single directional light on the beach. In 1990, the Ridges Sanctuary took possession of the buildings and began restoring them; this was completed during the 1990s, when both buildings were rewired to supply electricity to the lamps. A skeleton tower, which was listed in Volume VII of the United States Coast Guard light list, provided shipping guidance until 2015, when the original range lights were updated with modern LED lamps and brought back online.

Additional Information