>> Click to enlarge << Aerial view of Beaver Island Lighthouse, Beaver ... Photo by: Francine Dollinger

Michigan’s Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners has entered into an agreement by which the county, along with Networks Northwest, will likely purchase the Beaver Island Lighthouse from the Charlevoix Public Schools, which operated a school at the site until 2016.

>> Click to enlarge << August 1997 photo of Beaver Island Lighthouse. ... Photo by: Jerry Biggs

Under the agreement, the county will pay $71,400 and Networks Northwest will pay $68,600 toward the $140,000 purchase price, giving the county a 51 percent ownership and Networks Northwest a 49 percent ownership.

>> Click to enlarge << Historic undated image of Beaver Island ...

Officials state that the goal of the agreement is to keep the lighthouse in the public domain and restore the lighthouse back to its original state.

The Beaver Island Lighthouse was built in 1858 to replace an earlier 1851 structure. It was deactivated in 1962.