White River Light Station

The White River Light Station is the lighthouse to climb on White Lake: an 1875 brick light station at the channel to Lake Michigan, now a museum, with a 38-foot tower open to visitors in season. From the top you look out over Lake Michigan and White Lake.

Inside, the museum covers the shipping, logging, fishing and resort days of the White Lake area with photographs, paintings and nautical artifacts, and the light’s original Fourth-Order Fresnel lens is on display.

The story starts with the channel, dug in 1870 so lumber schooners could reach the sawmills on White Lake. Captain William Robinson, who came from England, was the first keeper and served 47 years, raising 13 children here with his wife, Sarah. A later keeper, Frances Marshall, was the last woman to keep a Michigan lighthouse.

The light was decommissioned in 1960 and opened as a museum in 1970. It is open from mid-May to late October, so plan a summer or early fall visit, and wear shoes with a heel strap if you want to climb. Afterward, walk out along the channel and pier from the parking lot.