Digest>Archives> Mar/Apr 2016

Coast Guard Wants Lens Out of Tawas Point Lighthouse

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The 4th order Fresnel lens in the tower at Tawas ...

The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that they want to remove the 4th order Fresnel lens that has been in Tawas Point Lighthouse in East Tawas, Michigan since 1901.

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Tawas Point Lighthouse in East Tawas, Michigan is ...
Photo by: Paul Maurer

Even though the light has been more than adequate to mariners for 115 years, the Coast Guard wants to replace the light in the tower with a modern optic out on the point, which they claim can be better seen by boaters and that a light is no longer needed in the tower. But the real reason may be in their statement that “the Fresnel lens is antiquated and subject to environmental damage.”

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The inscription in the brass framework of the 4th ...

However, officials with the State of Michigan which has owned the lighthouse since 2002, and operates it as a museum, would like to see the Fresnel lens stay in the tower. But, because of the Coast Guard’s overvaluations of Fresnel lenses and their extremely overly aggressive stance on how a Fresnel lens should be preserved that could be a losing battle.

This story appeared in the Mar/Apr 2016 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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