Toledo Harbor Light

The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Lake Erie near Toledo, Ohio, in the United States. The light replaced the 1837 lighthouse on Turtle Island at the mouth of the Maumee River. It is an active aid to navigation.The lighthouse is built on a 20-foot-deep (6 m) stone crib, from the mouth of the Maumee River, marking the entrance to the Toledo harbor. It is also approximately north of Maumee Bay State Park. After the channel was widened and deepened in 1897, shipping traffic increased. Construction began in 1901 when the United States Army Corps of Engineers sunk a large crib, filled it with stone, and then topped the portion above with water with a concrete base to create an artificial island.Crib construction was perfected on the Great Lakes on such earlier lights as White Shoal Light, Stannard Rock Light, and Rock of Ages Light, which was developed by Engineer Col. Orlando M. Poe.It is situated eight miles northeast of Toledo Harbor. It is a "distinctive lighthouse that some believe resembles a gingerbread house". While there is no witch living inside as there was in the tale of Hansel and Gretel, there is an eerie "phantom keeper" who for years beckoned to mariners from an upper-story window. It stands sentinel to Maumee Bay.