With fall fast approaching, travelers should be sure to add a visit to the 2011 Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival October 6-9. This is the 16th year the nation’s largest lighthouse festival has been held in Alpena, Mich. The mission of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival is “to promote the historic lighthouse and life-saving stations of the Great Lakes through educating the public about the restoration, preservation, history and life of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Stations” and have fun while doing it!

The four-day event provides activities for the young and old, including lighthouse tours by personal vehicles, a helicopter tour, or boat tour, entertainment, auctions, dining events, lighthouse exhibits, and shopping. The festival boasts more than 75 maritime-related vendors, including lighthouse preservation groups, artists, nautical crafters, photographers, and authors. This year’s featured guest speakers include Terry Pepper, executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, national gold medal award winning photographer and author Larry Wright, and Sandy Bihn, president of the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Society, which operates the 2011 featured attraction, the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse.

The main site of activities is the Alpena Event Center, 701 Woodward Avenue, Alpena. Additional activities are held throughout the community, such as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, located on the downtown Alpena riverfront. The Sanctuary hosts a number of maritime-related exhibits and a glass-bottom boat tour. North of Alpena, at the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival Museum, 7406 US 23 North, visitors will find exhibits related to local shipwrecks and lighthouse history. Visitors are also encouraged to stop by Stoney Acres Winery, 4268 Truckey Road, Alpena to purchase a bottle of this year’s featured lighthouse Toledo Harbor Lighthouse wine in a limited edition lighthouse bottle.

Along Lake Huron’s shoreline from Tawas City to Mackinaw City, lighthouses will be open for tours and visits. The volunteers of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival welcome families and individuals to visit and enjoy the maritime riches of the Great Lakes during this celebration. October has been declared by the State of Michigan as Lighthouse Awareness Month. For information on events, activities and reservations, visit www.lighthousefestival.org or contact festival coordinator, Melanie Kirn, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 586-566-1603.

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Editor's Note: The author is a student at Denny International Middle School in Seattle, and she's the editor's daughter.

The Marblehead Lighthouse is located in the Marblehead Peninsula in the state of Ohio. I got interested in the lighthouse because it’s featured in a music video, “Vanilla Twilight,” by Owl City, which is one of my personal favorite songs. I think the lighthouse is used in the video to mean a place where people can find their true love.

Five thousand dollars was set aside to build the lighthouse by Ohio legislature in 1819 and the lighthouse was constructed the following year. Contractor William Kelly built the 50-foot tower of limestone on the tip of the Marblehead Peninsula in 1820. The lighthouse was built to prevent boats from crashing into Lake Erie’s shoreline and the clusters of small islands offshore during storms.

Can't see the video? Watch here.

There were 15 lighthouse keepers throughout its history and two of them were women. The first lighthouse keeper was Benajah Wolcott. His house, which is right next to the lighthouse, is the oldest known residence still standing in Ottawa County. Wolcott had served for ten years at the lighthouse before he died in 1832.

After his death, his wife Rachel took over, making her the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes. In 1943, Marblehead’s incandescent oil vapor was replaced with an electric light.

In 1946, after the last civilian keeper resigned, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the beacon. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has maintained the lighthouse since 1972 and accepted ownership of the tower in May 1998. The Coast Guard continues to operate and maintain the light itself.

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