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| Eagle Bluff Lighthouse and keeper's quarters. |
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| Trail map to lighthouse. Click for larger version. |
The 1.5-mile round trip Trail Tramper's Delight heads to the famous Eagle Bluff Lighthouse at Peninsula State Park. Many lighthouse aficionados consider it the best in the state.
To reach the trailhead, from Wis. Hwy. 42 enter Peninsula State Park on Shore Road. At about 2.75 miles, turn right/east into the boat launch/fishing pier for Nicolet Bay. Park there. Walk back to Shore Road and go left/south, walking just off the street. In short order, you'll reach the trailhead on the right/west side. Go onto it.
The trail soon crosses the Nicolet Bay Trail. Continue straight/west on Trail Tramper's Delight.
When crossing the Sunset Bike Route, you’re almost there. Continue straight and cross the looping Shore Road into the parking lot for the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse. (Sure, you could drive right up to the lighthouse, but then it wouldn't be a hike, would it?) The lighthouse is to the right/north of the lot.
Constructed of cream-colored Milwaukee brick, the lighthouse rises 43 feet atop a cliff overlooking shimmering Green Bay – the water body not the city – with islands in the distance. A tower built at an angle into the lighthouse boasts a spiral, cast-iron stairwell that heads to the lighthouse’s three floors and ten-sided lantern room.
The neighboring two-story keeper’s quarters is 26 x 30 feet with an adjoining kitchen. Also on the 1.21-acre site is an oil house. With a beautiful vista, the grounds is a perfect site for a picnic.
Constructed for $12,000 following the Civil War, the lighthouse guided ships past the Door County Peninsula and Strawberry Islands for decades. Other structures, such as a barn, were added during the half-century after the lighthouse was erected, but after falling into ruin were torn down.
The lighthouse was automated in 1926. Except for Fruit Growers Union Cooperative’s brief rental of the keeper’s quarters as office space in the 1930s, the light station largely went unoccupied after automation.
Well, at least not occupied by the living.
A number of visitors to the site over the years have reported seeing the ghost of a young boy playing on the lighthouse grounds. For believers in the spirit world, this was quite the mystery, as no children have died in or near the lighthouse.
Once theory is that the ghost is of Huey Melvin who lived in nearby Fish Creek at the beginning of the 20th century. Just before his sixth birthday, Huey died of tetanus and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, which also sits in the state park. In fact, you can visit his grave today – a stone lamb tops the tombstone, which includes the epitaph, “Our darlig [sic] one has gone before, to greet us on the blissful shore.”
When healthy, Huey loved to visit the lighthouse. The thought is that the young boy, taken too early from this world, still goes there to play to this day.
Unlike Huey’s ghost, modern visitors can only go inside the lighthouse if on a tour, which typically run mid-May through mid-October for a fee.
Once you've taken in the lighthouse and grounds, retrace your steps back to your parked vehicle.
