Large waves and Lake Michigan’s record high water level are breaking down the barrier that protects the historic Point Betsie Lighthouse in Frankfort.
Key parts of the structure are fractured and falling apart.
Supporters of the lighthouse are trying to get repairs done but a lengthy process may stand in the way.
On an overcast February morning, a cold wind swept inland from Lake Michigan, dusting Point Betsie Lighthouse with snow. Jed Jaworski walked along the shoreline next to it and noticed a wood board with nails sticking out of it.
“In the fall storms we had, this pathway was completely choked with debris,” he says.
Jed visits the lighthouse about twice a week, no matter the season. Usually it’s pristine.
But he says the lake’s high water continues to cause damage, and he worries about the barriers that protect the lighthouse.
“So that crack is what I’ve been monitoring and literally in every storm event now it’s got wider and wider and wider,” he says.
Jed says cracks in the concrete allow water to get in, and the water carries sediment out, causing the rock bed to sink. When that happens, the whole system is destabilized.
The Point Betsie Lighthouse opened in 1858. It was one the last staffed lighthouses on the Great Lakes and now it’s maintained as a tourist attraction by a community non-profit.
President of the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse, Dick Taylor, says the group is currently looking to do an engineering study of the cracked barrier at the lighthouse. It was installed in 1944.
“As a whole, (the shoreline protection system) is just eroded and worn and taken 80 years worth of winters and needs some attention,” he says.
Once that’s done, the group will seek out bids and begin applying for permits. They’re hoping to start construction in the summer.
In the meantime, winter storms will continue damage and water levels are expected to rise even higher in the spring, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Taylor says that pressure could mean more expensive repairs, upwards of a million dollars.
“As it gets worse, the potential for wave erosion to make the sand behind the seawall dig out and undermine the integrity of that whole structure, that’s a concern,” he says.
Taylor also worries that when they are ready to do the work, contractors won’t be available.
“As folks perhaps return North from not living here full-time and come up and find with urgency they need to get some work done, that the competition for both materials and labor to get work done this summer might become frantic,” he says.
Taylor says the one bright spot is that state agencies are responding to permits quickly.
Benzie County owns the lighthouse, and gets the final say. County Commissioner Art Jeannot says the county will likely sign off on the project.
“As long as they’re able to fix the problem through those funding vehicles we are absolutely dedicated to having it done,” Jeannot says.
Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse launched a fundraising campaign in the summer, and they’ve almost reached their goal of a million plus in donations.
Taylor says if things go as expected they’ll have enough to cover the repairs this year, but they may not have enough for their other projects — including adding parking and hiring an executive director.
Still, he says they won’t take any chances waiting on repairs.
