Tawas Point Light stands on Lake Huron at a point that has long been both a navigational hazard and a refuge, since Tawas Bay offers shelter from northern and northeastern storms. First funded in 1850 and lit in 1853, the original lighthouse was gradually left too far inland as shifting sand pushed the shoreline outward, making it hard to see and too dim for mariners. After complaints and a shipwreck, Congress funded a replacement in 1875, and the present lighthouse was completed in 1877. Still using a rare Fresnel lens, it remains a prominent, widely photographed part of Michigan’s Great Lakes maritime heritage.