The Light is located in Lake Huron, three miles (5 km) south of the nearest town, DeTour Village, Michigan.

In order to enter or leave the passage, boats must thread past a shallow area no more than 23 feet (7.0 m) deep.

This is part of a larger pattern of building 14 reef lights around Michigan, which was intended to help ships navigate through and around the shoals and hazards.

[15] The station was equipped with a F-2-T diaphone fog signal, which was preserved at the Great Lakes Historical Society in Ohio.

This gave impetus to the DeTour Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, and lent them national recognition.

The Coast Guard transferred control and, finally, ownership over DeTour Reef Light to the DRLPS in a series of rolling steps.

These steps tracked the successful DRLPS $1.2 million fundraising effort and demonstration that they could take on ownership of the Light:[9] The DeTour Reef Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 2005 under the title of the "DeTour Reef Light Station" as NRHP listing #05000151.

[18] As of 2009, "public tours of this unique historic offshore Michigan maritime monument are now being offered", for the first time in the 74-year history of the lighthouse.

[21] On March 21, 2022, the underwater power cable to the lighthouse failed, prompting DRLPS to cancel all 2022 Keeper and Tour programs.