The Detroit Historical Society Scholar Series
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Thursday, October 29 from 6-8 p.m.
The Detroit Historical Society continues its Scholar Series with Charles K. Hyde, author of "The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes," published by Wayne State University Press,
On Thursday, October 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. The event is presented in conjunction with current Dossin Museum exhibit, L is for Lighthouse.
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum, located at 100 Strand Drive on Belle Isle, is open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free through 2009, however, donations are welcome. During the week, the Museum is open for group tours by advance reservation.
Permanent exhibits include the Miss Pepsi championship hydroplane, the bow anchor from the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, the pilot house from the Great Lakes freighter S.S. William Clay Ford, and one of the largest known collections of scale model ships in the world. For more information, call (313) 833-5538 or visit www.detroithistorical.org.
The cost for the event is free for Detroit Historical Society members and $10 for the public. For more information or to register for the event, please call (313) 833-1801.
The first lighthouses in North America were built during the 18th century. Lighthouses on the Great Lakes, known as the "northern lights," opened the region to settlement and commercial trade. More than 160 lighthouses still exist on Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior and the straits of Mackinac.
Today, these lighthouses continue to light the way for thousands of recreational boaters each year. This book details the histories of the region's remaining lighthouses and their changing design, explores the lives of the early lighthouse keepers and provides a history of the United States Lighthouse Service and its descendants.
