Frozen Lighthouses

It's the season for ice forming on cars, trees, sidewalks and more, but there is nothing quite as haunting as ice on a lighthouse! Let's have a look at this chilling phenomena. 

Lake Michigan and Lake Erie are well known for lighthouses and, in the wintertime, frozen ones. Sea mists meet lighthouses to create gothic ice monsters. 

Let's just fly around one of these - 






Here a before and after below 

LINK

Racine Reef Lighthouse. Wisconsin

In winter, some of us might wake up to find the world blanketed in white snow, perhaps even high enough to have to dig out to get to work or school. When you see these lighthouses, you can't help but imagine what would happen if a lighthouse keeper were awaken to a frozen edifice. Well, here's a case - 

LINK:  However, there have been some lighthouse keepers that became stranded in their frozen lighthouses.

Terry Pepper shared some research he did on the Racine Reef Lighthouse, which is two and a half miles offshore of Racine, WI. This lovely Victorian lighthouse, whose architecture reflected that of the town, was built in 1906 to warn mariners traveling between Milwaukee and Chicago of the dangerous Racine Reef.

Several times in its history, the Racine Reef Lighthouse was encased in ice during December, preventing the lightkeepers from getting out and obtaining supplies. Once in 1929, the doors and windows were frozen shut, and with no chance of thawing, the keepers broke a window and chopped their way through the ice to escape. Another time, five Coastguardsmen chained themselves together and pushed a skiff loaded with food three miles across the ice to reach the starving keepers.

As picturesque as these lighthouses are in summertime, I think the real time to photograph them is in the winter....