grand traverse lighthouse museum

Spent a week as a volunteer Lighthouse Keeper. The museum is a wonderful stop if you are in the Traverse City area. See the hundred of cairns along the lakefront or build your own during your visit. Lighthouse "Keeping" was a lot of work but ranks as one of my favorite experiences.

My husband and I love to go to the different light houses in Michigan. There are more light houses in Michigan and in any other state. We had never been to the Grand Traverse Light House and wanted to take a color tour this fall. We were not disappointed in the color tour north along Lake Michigan to Leland and then to Northport and to Grand Traverse Light House. They had the Light House as well as the grounds decorated for Halloween. There is a gift shop and they had hot dogs and roasted marshmallows. The view from the top of the Light House is spectacular. The basement was even decorated for Halloween as they said go if you dare. Was a lot of fun. We had no charge to get into Leelanau State Park as we have a sticker on our license plates purchased when we renewed our license plates. The cost to go thru the Light House is $4 per person. If you want you can hike down to Lake Michigan. A must see if you are in Northern Michigan. Going thru the Light House could be done in around an hour. If you wanted to hike around the area you could spend at least a couple of hours.

Yes, you have to pay for the state park, it was $9 but I know parks don't get a lot of funding support so I pay gladly for them to help preserve historical sites. Then I walked to the lighthouse and paid to get inside for a self-tour. If you don't have an appreciation for historical places, don't go. But if you do, they group that handles the upkeep of the lighthouse does a good job. When the lighthouse was functioning, there were two residences. One for the head lighthouse keeper and his family and another, virtually identical, for the assistant lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse keeper's side was turned into a museum similar to its condition during the 20s-30s. But the assistant lighthouse keeper's old residence is kept for people who want to volunteer to spend a week at the lighthouse and provide some maintenance.The man tending the lighthouse museum told me he paid $100 to spend the week in the lighthouse and his girlfriend was tending the gift shop across the parking lot. It was cold and raining but I liked the fact that the rain and the price of entrance into the museum seemed to keep the few people away. I took my little tour, looking at the antique kitchen(they had hand pumps back then instead of a faucet!), the crank telephone, one of the light bulbs used in the lighthouse and even an old foghorn. But the best part was crawling up the ladder to the top where the old light used to be. It was quaint, I enjoyed it, I felt the weight of history as I read about the men and women who served in the lighthouse.If it wasn't raining, I would have enjoyed strolling around the beach.

Yes, we paid to enter the park. 9 dollars per car. Not a big deal to us. We parked right there and walked to the light house directly ahead of where you pay the park attendant. Then we paid the small fee to tour the light house. The worker gave our son a clipboard with questions for each room for him to find answers to. Our son really enjoyed hunting down the items or information requested. It made it educational for him. Climbing up to where the light had been was fun too. We took lots of pictures. Also visited the foghorn building. They had quite a bit posted about previous lighthouse keepers. There was also a cabin here that you could walk behind and see inside. We visited this lighthouse plus the Mission Point light house both in one day. There's also a gift shop here. There are clean toilets, but they are pit toilets so a bit smelly. Hold your breath.

We paid $9 to enter the state park. We walked to the lighthouse and were informed it was another $4 per person to go into the lighthouse and museum. There is absolutely nothing else to do at this state park other than walk around the lighthouse. So basically we paid $9 to park our car and walk 50 yards and back. What a scam!

We paid the $9 fee to get in and discovered that the lighthouse was closed (would have been another $4). This lighthouse isn't your typical looking lighthouse--it looks more like a house, and from the outside it looked very well maintained. Large cedars growing around it largely block the view, making it hard to step back and get a good pictures if that was your goal. It kind of looks like an odd-looking house in the trees, not a lighthouse. Unfortunately, since the park was so small, there was not much to do other than circle the lighthouse briefly and leave, since we could not go in. I suspect that I would still only give it an average rating if I had gone in, unless there was something exceptional to see inside that I don't know about. Disappointed with our visit.

The lighthouse is in Leelanau State Park so you have to enter the park to see the lighthouse so there is a $9 park fee before you pay $4 per person to go inside the lighthouse. However, worth the cost if you are interested in lighthouses. Some take advantage of the picnic area to have lunch. We enjoyed going inside the lighthouse and seeing how the keeper lived with his family. The lighthouse was manned by the USCG. The climb up to the Fresnel lens section of the lighthouse was very steep, narrow stairs including a section of . winding stairs. The outside grounds provide nice views of the lake. There is a small gift shop in another building. The trip from Traverse City is about an hour.

This is a very beautiful setting for a lighthouse. The house is filled with many amazing artifacts from the Keepers who worked and lived there. There is also a place where you can sit and research a family member who worked there. There are volumes of history. Take the time to walk up the winding stairs to get the view from the very top. On a clear day you can see for miles and maybe even Beaver Island. The park will rip you off to get in. We were charged $9 to get in the park and then an additional $4 for each adult. We had no problem with the fee for the light but, $9 just to park as we used no other facilities there was ridiculous. After Labor Day there are no guided tours of the light so you have to take a self-guided. Take some time, if it is a nice day, to sit out in the back under the trees and enjoy the water and serenity.

Pretty historic lighthouse. When open(and it was to us) you can tour the little museum and climb narrow stairs to the top of the lighthouse tower for the view. Worth the drive up the pretty peninsula.

The Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum is a great day trip from Traverse City for individuals or families. The lighthouse is a museum that comes with a written tour, explaining how life was like about 150 years ago. As of August 2014, the cost of entry to the museum is $4 for adults and $2 for children. There is a scavenger hunt that kids can participate in by searching for different objects in the house. You can climb to the top of the lighthouse, which is cramped, but doesn't take a ton of energy. Heavier or very tall travelers may not be able to fit through the small opening at the top. I climbed it three times with my kids, but twice we had to wait as people backed their way down when they discovered they couldn't fit through the opening at the top of the ladder. Even without climbing to the top, the museum is worth a visit. The only bathrooms available are outhouses. Bring hand sanitizer! You can walk to the water, and even wade a bit of a distance out as it's shallow near the shore. The kids had fun picking up shells along the shoreline. It's in its natural state, so there is sea grass along the beach. It's not a place where you can lay out a towel and sunbathe, but it still offers interesting things to see and do (hiking, wildlife, the water.)Camping is available next to the lighthouse, and although we saw the tents, we did not take advantage of it. We drove back to Traverse City later that day.

We were travelling from Petoskey to Sleeping Bear Dunes with a stop for a picnic lunch at Leelanau State Park to see Grand Traverse Lighthouse. We didn't visit the Museum. If you enjoy scenic day trips then I highly recommend the must see Leelanau Peninsula. There are many wineries along the route. We bought some wine for family and friends at Leelanau Winery. Sunny weather is best for photos. There is admission cost to the State Park and Museum. We bought some souvenirs at the gift shop.

Come experience life in a Great Lakes Lighthouse which is fully furnished just like it would have been in the 1920s. This will delight the children in discovering and imagining what life would have been like living in a working lighthouse. For older visitors, it will take them back to Grandma's house. For a small museum, the interpretation is exceptionally well-done. If you can make it, you do want to visit during the first week of December when the lighthouse is decorated for Christmas and the community provides musical entertainment. This will be a treasured memory of your upnorth visit.

This lighthouse museum was staffed by a retired teacher who provided hands-on demonstration as well as information about a small submersible used for the investigation of sunken ships. Other local L. Michigan history was also on display and the outside views of the lake were perfect.

We drove behind an idiot who had his dog in the front seat and wife in the back on a two lane road for 20 miles. When we finally got to the lighthouse, we paid $9 and watched the idiot get out and leave his dog in the truck. When I asked the ranger how long he would be allowed to keep his dog in the truck, she said well, the windows are halfway down. I watched until he returned to the truck because I was ready to call the police. Onto the lighthouse. We stopped in the gift shop to buy batteries for our camera, and paid the $5 for 4 batteries without complaint. But when I approached the cashier she had just coughed in her hand and was offended I did not want her to touch my batteries. While making change, she sneezed into her hand. No attempt to use the hand sanitizer that was directly in front of her. Just indignation that I would not want to catch her germs. Then we headed out and realized there is no beach, no where to walk and almost nothing to see. We left within 10 minutes and drive to a beach in Suttons bay that was free and beautiful and did not have a cashier with germy hands. Yes, I realize there were many germs on the beach but no one coughed and sneezed into their hand and then tried to touch my things. Not at all worth the drive or the money. Save your time. Wish we had gone to the Peninsula instead. Oh, and the batteries didn't work and when I went in to exchange them had to listen to the cashier exclaim how she had no idea why they wouldn't work. Well, they didn't. And I wasn't happy to pay $5 for batteries that didn't even work.

We are fascinated with lighthouses and have seen many of them. This one is a great one to visit because the lighthouse keepers house is restored to the 1920's. You can climb up the steps to the tower. There are not many steps for the climb, but it is narrow and does not have a lot of room. It costs $4.00 for adults and is well worth it. Beautiful grounds and you can walk down to the lake. You do have to pay to get into the state park. I believe it was $9.00. There is a small gifgt shop. Everyone was very friendly and informative.