The Port Austin Lighthouse has been awarded a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation to cover the cost of exterior refurbishments. Work on them, along with interior refurbishment work, is planned to be complete by September 2023.

The Port Austin Reef Lighthouse will be getting a facelift thanks to a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation. 

They money will go toward helping restore the lighthouse's exterior.

The grant is under the department’s Transportation Alternatives Program, which awarded a similar grant in 2020 to the DeTour Reef Lighthouse at the northern end of Lake Huron for the same purposes.

Lou Schillinger, the president of the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse Association, said that MDOT was looking to do the same type of project that was closer to a population base, more visible, and in warmer waters, and felt that Port Austin would be the best fit.

“We were working on this grant close to five years,” Schillinger said, “COVID slowed things down a couple of years.”

The grant would cover $480,000 of the $610,000 project. The association accepted the financial responsibility of local match for the village of Port Austin, which would be the remaining $130,000.

The work would include weatherizing the exterior and bringing portions of it back to compliance with State Historic Preservation Office standards. This includes removing vinyl from window frames installed in the 1990s, redoing railings to be more historically accurate, replacing door frames, replacing the fog signal, and installing a generator to provide power, among other changes.

Work would start as soon as possible after contracts are awarded, with Schillinger saying there are qualified contractors who are familiar with offshore restoration work. The expected completion time is September 2023.

Interior restoration work will go on at the same time as the exterior work, but those project costs are not covered by this grant. That work includes doing drywall, ceiling, wiring, and flooring work in the tower.

“We’re projecting both will be done at the same time,” Schillinger said. “(Interior work) would be one with local funds or a fundraiser project.”

Restoring the Port Austin Lighthouse has been ongoing since 1985, and Schillinger said the association wants to get it to a point where it is a viable, regularly used part of Port Austin’s maritime history. The association already runs charter boats to the lighthouse, where guests can stay at it up to an hour with a tour guide. That will continue through the restoration work as much as possible.

In 2024, the association would like to have the lighthouse open for a lightkeeper program, where guests can experience what it was like to be a remote lightkeeper for a weekend, similar to what the DeTour Lighthouse offers.

“It gives us a good, stable source of revenue and intellectual and personal resources to keep the lighthouse maintained for perpetuity,” Schillinger said. “I was 35 when work started. I’m 72 now. I would like to turn it over to a new generation when it’s complete.”

Robert Creenan has been a news reporter for the Huron Daily Tribune since April 2019.   Prior to arriving at the Tribune, Robert was a news reporter with the Cortland Standard in Cortland, New York.    He has a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism with a creative writing minor from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.   He is a fan of soccer, Buffalo sports, bike riding, and esports.