After a ninety mile trip up Lake Huron in April of 1848, Peter and Catharine Shook and their eight children arrived at their new home, a three acre opening in thick forest containing a house and a twenty-eight foot detached tower built from shoreline and lake stones. The house was barely adequate for ten people. Peter Shook, the first keeper at Pointe aux Baques, drowned a year later, and Catharine was then appointed one of the few female keepers, serving until 1851. By 1857, the original lighthouse, which stood 100ft south of the current location, had deteriorated badly and was replaced by the attached tower still in service today. In 1873, the lighthouse received a new 3rd order Fresnel Lens that warned mariners of the dangerous reef around the point for 12 to 14 miles into the lake. Installation of electricity in 1932 pushed the light 18 to 20 miles into the lake. The lens remained in the tower from 1873 until 1969, when it was replaced by two DCB-224 Aero Beacons. The lens was returned to the lighthouse in 2013 and is on view in the museum, and the aero beacons were removed in 2014 and replaced with an LED fixture; the aero beacons are also on display in the museum. Keepers fueled the lamp by carrying fuel up to the lantern room, trimmed wicks, replaced mantles, pumped up the oil vaporizer, cleaned and polished the glass chimney, lenses, windows, brass fittings, and tools, lighted and extinguished the lamp, monitored the light and nearby ships at night, closed the lantern room curtains by day, cleaned and lubricated the clockwork, painted the structure, maintained and repaired the buildings, greeted visitors and inspectors, and wrote reports, kept records, and ordered supplies. Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse had ten keepers who served from 1848 to 1939, with seven serving in the first fifteen years, attesting to the difficult conditions in this isolated area. The lighthouse survived the fire of 1871, the fire of 1881, the Storm of 1913, the Armistice Day Storm of 1937, and other severe natural events at the station.