Eagle Bluff Closes for Season

Patti Podgers, Eagle Bluff Lighthouse Museum curator

After being honored as the Great Lakes Featured Light 2014, Eagle Bluff Lighthouse passed the mantle to Waugoshance Lighthouse at the annual Lighthouse Festival held October 10 – 12 in Alpena, Michigan. “This was a wonderful selection as it reinforces the goal of preservation,” said Patti Podgers, Eagle Bluff’s curator. “Remarkably, Waugoshance is also an important part of our own history.

“William Duclon, Eagle Bluff’s second keeper, served a portion of his early career on that lighthouse, which is an isolated navigational aid in the Straits of Mackinac. We don’t have any immediate information about his years there, but one can only imagine the isolation. Following his tenure at Waugoshance, Captain Duclon deserved a social lighthouse like Eagle Bluff.”

Representing Door County’s significant lighthouse history at the festival, Podgers was delighted with the attention the peninsula received at the 19th event. “It was a fabulous opportunity to visit lighthouses and the people who work so hard to save them. And that is just what happened at Eagle Bluff Lighthouse which was rescued by the dedicated Door County Historical Society.”

“And now it is that time of the year that saddens all of us at the lighthouse…closing the doors for the winter. But given that we do not have any heat, it’s time to shutter the windows, and hang the ‘closed’ sign on the door,” Podgers explained. “As always, we look forward to seeing our visitors again next May. Hopefully, we will enjoy a Door County winter wonderland.”

For additional information and updates visit eagleblufflighthouse.org. Group tour reservations are now being accepted for 2015. Call Patti Podgers at 920.495.7330 to reserve a date and time.