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Photograph of Au Sable Light
Photograph by Unknown, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Au Sable Light Station

Built in 1874 (Italianate architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

From the record

“Au Sable Light is an active lighthouse in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore west of Grand Marais, Michigan off H-58. Until 1910, this aid to navigation was called "Big Sable Light".”

Wikipedia article Au Sable Light, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 14 National Register listings published here for Alger County · listed in 1978 · category: Building · built in 1874, Italianate architecture, by Orlando Metcalfe Poe.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 8 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. W of Grand Marais, Grand Marais, 49839
  • When was it listed? May 1978
  • Category. building
  • Township. Burt township
  • When was it built? 1874
  • Architectural style. Italianate architecture
  • Architect. Orlando Metcalfe Poe
  • National Register reference number. 78000374 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

1 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Au Sable Light Station in 2018, burning under an acre in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
1 September 2018Naturalunder an acrePictured Rocks National LakeshoreAU SABLE POINT

Every fire recorded in Alger County

Storms near this property

19 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grand Marais, the town this property stands in, in 19 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 10 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2019LightningGrand Marais$20,000Lightning from a thunderstorm caused a rooftop fire at the Superior Hotel in Grand Marais on the afternoon of the 30th. Time of the report was estimated via ENTLN and GLD lightning data.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais$5,000Numerous trees up to ten inches in diameter uprooted along Old Seney Road 5 to 10 miles south of Grand Marais.
June 2017Heavy RainGrand Marais$4,000The observer in Grand Marais reported several gravel and dirt highways washed out from heavy rain.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais$4,000Trees down across roads and power outages.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais-A measured wind gust at the Grand Marais Light GLOS observing station.
July 2016HailGrand Marais-A spotter in Grand Marais reported dime-sized hail.
July 2016HailGrand Marais-There was a public report of dime-sized hail along West Bay in Grand Marais.
July 2016HailGrand Marais-A spotter just southeast of Grand Marais reported dime-sized hail.
July 2016HailGrand Marais-There was a public report of quarter-sized hail with some hail stones larger than quarter size. The hail lasted five to ten minutes, and an intense downpour was also observed.
August 2013HailGrand Marais-Mostly quarter-sized hail was observed in Grand Marais. There were a few flat stones approaching the diameter of a golf ball.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais-Measured wind gust recorded by the Grand Marais Lighthouse observing station.
June 2011HailGrand Marais-Time of the report was estimated from the radar. The caller did not know the exact location of the report, but it was close to Grand Marais.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais-Wind gust measured by the Grand Marais GLOS station.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais-Thunderstorm winds broke off several tree limbs in Grand Marais.
June 2008HailGrand Marais-Hail occurred on Highway 77 south of Grand Marais.
May 2001HailGrand Marais-3/4 inch hail.
May 2001HailGrand Marais-3/4 inch hail.
June 2010HailGrand Marais-no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindGrand Marais-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Alger County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Pickle Barrel House7.3 miles2004
Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights8.0 miles2012
Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights8.0 miles2012

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 78000374 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Alger CountyAll 14 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.