Two Harbor lighthouse regains its ‘iconic beam’

It wasn t just fireworks lighting up the night sky in Two Harbors Minn this Fourth of July For the first time in six years the iconic light from the North Shore city s lighthouse beacon miles northeast of Duluth will once again sweep across Lake Superior The lighthouse s light went dark in November due to a hardware failure With help from the U S Coast Guard four volunteer lighthouse keepers with the Lake County Historical Society which owns the lighthouse installed a temporary beacon so the facility could continue to operate as a private aid to navigation on the lake But it s a flashing light that detracts a little bit from that iconic beacon that you see sweeping across Agate Bay explained Ellen Lynch executive director of the historical society So the organization began fundraising to purchase a new light It raised and bought an LED beacon from a Finnish company that mimics the rotational sweeping pattern of the original lighthouse And now the Lake County Historical Society planned to light the new beacon on July as part of a celebration marking the th anniversary of the organization just before the Independence Day fireworks show This has been a long journey for us from fundraising to installation and we re incredibly proud of what our locality has accomplished disclosed Sam Gangi president of the historical society board The Two Harbors lighthouse is the oldest continuously operating light on the North Shore of Lake Superior It was built in years before the more well-known Split Rock Lighthouse was completed to guide ships into the iron ore docks that were built in Agate Bay a decade earlier The Historical Society took ownership of the structure in It operates a museum and bed-and-breakfast and is also responsible to the U S Coast Guard for keeping it lit as a private aid to navigation And now that light will look much like it did over a century ago The new beacon will bring back that iconic sweep and signature of our original light and be as close as workable to the original Lynch announced Related Articles -year-old Minnesota boy dies after July firework hits him Funeral planned for Minnesota state trooper who drowned in South Dakota Essentia hospital nurses in Duluth Superior avoid strike dead in St Cloud after pickup driver flees police stop collides with car Operation Dry Water targets impaired boating during July weekend