Beaver Island Head Light stands on the southern tip of Beaver Island above a hazardous passage in Lake Michigan near Gray’s Reef, where it guided northbound vessels. The current 46-foot tower was built in 1858 to replace an 1852 lighthouse, and the station grew with the addition of a keeper’s dwelling in 1866, assistant keepers’ quarters, and a fog signal building in 1915. Its role shifted in 1962 when a radio beacon was installed and the staffed light was decommissioned, with its original Fourth Order Fresnel lens moved to the dwelling. After Charlevoix Public Schools acquired the property in 1975, an alternative school helped restore and preserve the station.