Most counties in America have never had a lighthouse.

But in Leelanau, because of its peninsular status and islands, a number of them were built for the safety of 19th century shipping activity.

Congress passed the first act relating to lighthouses on Aug. 7, 1789, just a few months before George Washington was inaugurated as our first president.

The act stipulated that “all expenses that shall accrue from and after the 15th day of August, 1789, in the necessary support, maintenance, and repairs of all light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, erected, placed, or sunk before the passing of this act, at the entrance of or within any bay, inlet, harbor or port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and safe, shall be defrayed out of the Treasury of the United States.”

Most of the lighthouses now in existence, however, including Leelanau’s, were built in the 19th century and operated by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The service was merged into the U.S. Coast Guard prior to World War II. The Coast Guard’s local tenure only lasted a few decades, since the lights were later taken out of service or automated.

A lighthouse on North Manitou Island was destroyed by a storm in 1942 and not rebuilt.

The lighthouse on South Manitou Island was “retired” in 1958 and “the Crib” (North Manitou Shoals), located between the two islands, was automated over 25 years ago.

The light in Grand Traverse Lighthouse was replaced by a beacon nearby and the lighthouse at South Fox Island, like that on South Manitou, was stricken from active service.

In 1825, Congress enacted that “if any person or persons shall hold or show any false light or lights, or extinguish any true light, with the intention to bring any ship or vessel, boat or raft, being or sailing upon the sea, into danger or distress or shipwreck, every such person so offending, his or her counselors, aiders, and abettors, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding four thousand dollars, and confinement to hard labor not exceeding ten years, according to the aggravation of the offense.”

In the 19th century there were many wrecks along the Florida Keys and in the Bahamas and some were attributed to “evil-minded persons” who systematically lured ships off course and onto reefs. One trick consisted of tying a lantern to a horse's tail and walking the horse in a circle, thus imitating a lighthouse’s revolving light.

In any event, “wrecking,” or salvaging activity, was a major economic factor in 19th century Key West – once Florida’s largest city.

Because of a number of complaints about the operation of the lighthouses, a new Lighthouse Board was constituted, by act of Congress, in 1852.

By 1874, Charles Nordhoff claimed in Harper’s magazine, that “the labors of this Light-house Board have placed our light service, which was once the worst in the world, at the head of all for its excellence of its different devices for relieving navigation of risks, and making our harbors easily accessible.”

At the time, commercial traffic on the Great Lakes had reached a peak. There were over 1,000 commercial sailing vessels and hundreds of steamers. It was not particularly unusual for a dozen or more vessels to shelter at South Manitou Island, which had perhaps the best natural harbor on Lake Michigan.

“All lights on the St. Lawrence, and on all our Northern lakes and their bays, are discontinued on the 1st of January, and relit only when the ice melts and navigation reopens, Nordhoff wrote.

“A light-house keeper is required by the government to be over eighteen years old,” Nordhoff added, “to be able to read and write, and to be competent for his duties. Women and servants must not be employed in the management of the lights, except by the special authority of the department.”

Finally, Nordhoff concluded his article: “Congress rightly has great confidence in the scientific skill and integrity of the Lighthouse Board. At the last session, besides the usual appropriation for the maintenance of the light-house system, it gave the money needed to build forty new light-houses and ten steam fog-signals. If we ever have a merchant marine of our own again, our seaman will find the stormy and rock-bound coasts of their country well lighted for them.”

In the last sentence, the writer is referring to the fact that the American saltwater fleet declined greatly following the Civil War. It occurred for a number of reasons, but one factor was the predation of Confederate commerce raiders such as the infamous Alabama.

But all of that is another story.