The Point at Grand Marais is a broad tombolo between two natural harbors on Lake Superior that has shaped the area's history for centuries. Known to the Ojibwe as part of Gitchi-bitobig, or Great Duplicate Water, the area later saw the names Grand Marais, Mayhew Point, and Artists' Point used, though the point itself has had no official name. The Anishinabe, or Ojibwe, lived here for thousands of years, with wigwams on the Point through at least the fur trade era, and Francis Rupain of the Lake Superior Chippewa became the first state recorded owner in 1866. Henry Mayhew secured title in 1871, likely built the first permanent house there, established a general store, and gave his name to the docks built in 1876. Those docks followed the December 12, 1875 wreck of the schooner Stranger, which failed to reach harbor in a gale, grounded, drifted back into the lake, and was last seen with three doomed crewmen aboard. Efforts to make the harbor safer brought a breakwater in 1884, a wood-framed lighthouse in 1885, a second light in 1902, a replacement lighthouse in 1922, and a concrete seawall in 1936. Joseph Mayhew became the original lighthouse keeper and moved into the keeper's house when it was built in 1896. In the 1930s, the Point was also marked by a USDA Forest Service fire tower on the west side and a Coast Guard watch tower on the east, with the fire tower removed in 1943. Conveyed to the federal government in 1942 as part of the Superior National Forest, the 8.4 acre Point remains notable for its cultural history, birdlife, unusual plants, and the carved names left in its rock by earlier visitors.