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The federal government is again trying to get out from under the lighthouse at the Lower Entrance of the Portage Shipping Canal.
The Portage Entry Light stands at the tip of the breakwater on the north side of the harbor. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, the same year the U.S. Coast Guard said it was no longer essential to shipping. Two years later, it was placed in the hands of a group called the Keweenaw Waterway Lighthouse Conservancy, which hoped to raise money to preserve it.
Those plans fell through, and the General Services Administration is now offering the light to a new owner.
It’ll come at no cost, but candidates are restricted to governmental agencies, non-profits, educational institutions or community development agencies. It must be used for educational, recreational or historic preservation purposes.
If no such organization steps up, the lighthouse could be auctioned to the general public.
The challenge is that the only way to reach it is by walking the four-tenths-of a-mile length of the breakwater, which will continue to be controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
You can see the government’s official “Notice of Availablity” here.
