The view from the Chambers Island Lighthouse on Green Bay is spectacular. From its wooded shallow hilltop on the northwest corner of the island, the octagonal tower overlooks manicured grounds sloping to Lake Michigan and a nearby tree-lined cove with a sandy beach and moored sailboats. Michigan's Upper Peninsula looms more than seven miles across the bay at the nearest crossing to the west. I shuddered at the view due north - the direction of my next kayak leg to Cedar River - well beyond the watery horizon, even from this height. The view east to Wisconsin's Door County has been blocked by tree growth. A newer automated light on a high steel tower clears those woods to safely guide ships toward the ports of Menominee/Marinette, Oconto, and Green Bay. The original brick tower with adjoining keeper's house was built in 1868. Open to the public and free of charge, spiral grated iron stairs lead to the top of the tower as well as to the second story of the house. All doors were open and a quick glance revealed the house was being currently lived in. Volunteers of the U.S. Lighthouse Society occupy the Chambers Island Lighthouse on summer weekends - not so much to restore the structure as to maintain it, although a badly needed roof had recently been installed. The fate of the lantern room is unknown - rumored to be in a museum in Nebraska. The volunteers give the place the look and feel of what life would have been like at an isolated lighthouse. The lighthouse office room is now the History Room with old photographs, maps, news articles, sketches, and light-keeper's log entries. The lighthouse is owned by the Wisconsin town of Gibraltar which is on the Door County Peninsula. Overnight camping is not allowed but the Chambers Island Lighthouse Park is available for picnics and other social gatherings. The site is accessible from nearby coves or a grass airfield, each a short walk away on shaded country dirt roads.

Even on the fastest of boats, the Minneapolis Shoal Light seems to take forever to approach. The light is located 11 miles off-shore from Escanaba, Michigan, on the northern end of Green Bay on western Lake Michigan. Built in 1935, the light maintains the art deco look that prevailed in that era. Its white octagonal tower with a red band rests on a white concrete crib which served as the keepers quarters until 1979 when the light became automated. The crib rests on a 41-foot-tall concrete base which has the unique feature of a steel door at the water line that opens to an internal boathouse. The tower reaches 70 feet and supports a black lantern room. The light's focal plane is 82 feet above the lake level. A radio tower peaks the massive structure. The active aid to navigation is not open to the public and is best viewed by boat or airplane.