When you drive into Door County, WI, you have two choices – the road splits and runs in arcs up both sides of the peninsula, meeting at the top in Gills Rock. The western side of this strip of land is the “main drag” with picturesque villages filled with beautiful shops, while the eastern side is just as scenic but less traveled and feels more remote. One of our favorite stops on the eastern side is Bailey’s Harbor – jutting out into the amazing blue-green waters of Lake Michigan. And it's the location of a pair of lighthouses, the Front and Rear (aka Lower and Upper) Range Lights. In all my years of lighthouse-spotting, it was a surprise to hear the incredible story of these two structures. While the front light is an octagonal, 21” high structure, the rear structure resembles a typical pioneer schoolhouse. However, it’s their purpose and function that is so astonishing. When lit, the lighthouses produce two beams of light – one exactly 17 feet higher than the other. Captains seeking to come into Bailey’s Harbor line their boats up with these two vertical lights and then it’s safe for them to enter the harbor. Isn’t that amazing engineering?
This week’s painting, Bailey’s Range Light, 8” x 12” watercolor, captures the beautiful Rear/Upper lighthouse. Tucked off the road, in a secluded woods at the end of a long boardwalk, sits this integral structure, situated exactly 17’ higher than its partner light.
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