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| Fond du Lac Light |
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| Fond Du Lac Light trail route. Click for larger version. |
The Fond du Lac Light is an easy 100-foot round trip walk if you get close parking. At worse, the walk can be 500 feet round trip.
To reach the lighthouse, from the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 45 and Wis. Hwy. 23 in downtown Fond du Lac, head north on Hwy. 45/North Main Street. Stay straight/north on North Main Street when Hwy. 45 splits to become Scott Street. After entering Lakeside Park, the street naturally curves right/east and becomes Promen Drive. Next, turn left/northeast onto Lighthouse Drive and park in the lot along the lakeshore. The lighthouse is east of the lot.
Sitting at the south end of Lake Winnebago, the lighthouse marks the entry to Fond du Lac’s harbor and the Yacht Club. With a flagstone base and wooden frame tower, the lighthouse rises 40 feet. The eight-sided tower is of Cape Cod design.
In many ways, the lighthouse is a symbol of hope. It was constructed in 1933 at the heights of the Great Depression when nearly 1 in 4 of workers were unemployed. Local lumberman W.J. Nuss donated money for the project, and out-of-work city laborers were hired to erect it. Soon other residents donated money as well, and the local Yacht Club paid for the $200 red beacon. The lighthouse replaced a red light that guided mariners in and out of the harbor.
With the post-war boom of the late 1940, the lighthouse fell into disuse and was almost demolished in 1967. It was restored the following year then again in 1993. Today the lighthouse has become an iconic symbol of Fond du Lac, appearing in its city seal and various promotional efforts. Each holiday season, a cutout of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is placed atop the tower with its red light used as his nose.
The lighthouse is an oddity. Most of Wisconsin’s lighthouses sit on either Lake Superior or Lake Michigan. A few though, like the Fond Du Lac Light, can be found on Lake Winnebago, which connects several large cities via the Fox River to Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Shallow Lake Winnebago covers 215.5 square miles, stretching 30 miles from north to south and up to 10 miles across at its widest.
Hikers can climb an interior wooden staircase that winds around the lighthouse’s sides. An observation deck at the top offers great views of Lake Winnebago and the city. The tower typically is open May 1-Oct. 15 and is free to enter.
To extend the hike, 400-acre Lakeside Park offers several walkways. Most trailheads for the short nature trails are on Promen Drive.
