Stannard Rock Lighthouse in Michigan was nicknamed by its keepers “the loneliest place in the world.” Coast Guard keepers called it “Stranded Rock.” Located about 24 miles from the nearest shore on Lake Superior, it’s the most isolated light station in the United States. The construction of the lighthouse took 240,000 tons of rock and iron, and took five years to complete. With a rotating second-order Fresnel lens, the light began service on the Fourth of July in 1882.
The light was automated in 1962. In 2015, ownership was transferred to the Superior Watershed Partnership, an award-winning Great Lakes nonprofit organization. The lighthouse now serves as a climate research station.
Carl Lindquist is the founder and executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership.
Frederick Stonehouse is the author of more than thirty books including the best-selling The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He’s also been a consultant for both the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada.
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at email@example.com