Two Harbors Lighthouse — Two Harbors, Minnesota

We took a trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our first stop was Two Harbors, Minnesota, which only has one harbor. (The other bay that looks like a harbor is open to the lake and doesn’t harbor anything.)

Two Harbors Lighthouse

The Two Harbors Lighthouse is a museum, and the staff is very proud of the fact that they’ve salvaged the pilot house of an ore boat. They stuck it out on the lawn so that it blocked the view of the lake from the lighthouse and the view of the lighthouse from the lake. It’s obnoxious and not terribly interesting. Our guide was an old man who was very proud of the fact that he’d been in the Navy. He insisted on taking us into the pilot house and had my older daughter pretend to be steering while the rest of us looked on politely.

We weren’t allowed into the keeper’s dwelling, the part of the lighthouse that looks like a house. We did climb the tower to the level just below the lantern. We could see the beacon rotating above us. We could also see the lake (and the pilot house) through a tiny round window. After our tour, we wandered around taking photos.

Two Harbors, with the lighthouse and pilot house and fog off Lake Superior

The lighthouse was built in 1892 when Two Harbors was the major shipping point for iron ore from the Mesabi Range — some ore is still loaded and shipped in the harbor. The light is 78 feet above Lake Superior and is still in use.

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