‘Loneliest place in the world’ is this frozen lighthouse seen in Coast Guard photos

Mike Stunson
·2 min read

Referred to as “the loneliest place in the world,” an isolated lighthouse on Lake Superior looks like it may also be one of the world’s coldest sites.

The U.S. Coast Guard traveled to the Michigan’s Stannard Rock Lighthouse last week for repairs, and they returned with some remarkable photos of the remote destination.

A window blew out at the lighthouse, a structure the Coast Guard calls “essential for safe navigation” around the reef in the lake. Repairs were needed because the broken window may have eventually prevented the lighthouse’s light from working, the Coast Guard said.

Photos show the Coast Guard helicopter roaming the area, with only the lighthouse in sight among the choppy water.

A U.S. Coast Guard crew recently traveled to ‘the loneliest place in the world.’
A U.S. Coast Guard crew recently traveled to ‘the loneliest place in the world.’

“Our crew from Air Station Traverse City hoisted the Aids to Navigation team, along with their gear, down to the lighthouse, allowing them to ensure the light was in good working order and to board up the broken window,” the Coast Guard wrote on Facebook. “Great job on a successful mission.”

A closer look at the lighthouse shows the lower part of it covered in snow and ice. The crew made the trip in single-digit temperatures with “frequent snow squalls,” according to MLive.com.

Stannard Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior appears frozen in recent photos.
Stannard Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior appears frozen in recent photos.

The reef where the lighthouse now sits was discovered by Capt. Charles C. Stannard in 1835, according to LakeSuperior.com. Around 50 years later, the 78-foot tall lighthouse was built, and it has survived storms and ice for more than 150 years.

A Coast Guard crew traveled to a remote lighthouse in Michigan for repairs last week.
A Coast Guard crew traveled to a remote lighthouse in Michigan for repairs last week.

It’s called “the loneliest place in the world” because of its distance from land. The nearest land to Stannard Rock is 25 miles away, according to LighthouseFriends.com.

“There is a lot of interesting history that accompanies this lighthouse and it’s very rewarding to be able to get out to ‘the loneliest place on the continent’ to help out another agency on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard,” Petty Officer Campomizzi told MLive.

The lighthouse is used as a navigation marker for the area’s dangerous reefs, as well as to monitor “the rate of evaporation in Superior Lake,” according to UnusualPlaces.org.

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