[3] This structure was built of Cream City brick and consisted of a keeper's house with attached tower; a fourth-order Fresnel lens was used for the flashing red beacon.

[3] More substantial changes commenced in 1895 with the addition of a steam whistle fog signal, which was replaced in 1929 with a diaphone horn; at the same time the beacon was converted from kerosene to electricity.

[2] Neither tower was demolished, however, and in 1971 the federal government transferred the land surrounding the light station to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which entertained the lead of establishing a harbor of refuge at the site.

[4] This set off a legal battle initiated by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, who claimed rights to use of the island on the basis of an 1836 treaty; the local DNR district also objected to the swap, saying that the south island was more important to its mission than the north.

[4] Preservation efforts began in 1984, when a band of ten members of the Michigan Youth Corp performed a cleanup of the light station grounds.

The lighthouse tower is square and four stories tall, with windows on the first three floors and a decagonal iron lantern room on the fourth.

A modern outhouse and maintenance shed are also on the location, as well as a small cemetery containing two graves and the remains of a dock in the water.