this place matters: new & improved

helped convince Charlevoix County to purchase the Beaver Head Lighthouse with Networks Northwest. In an historic announcement, County commissioners who attended the year's picnic spoke of the vision of working with Beaver Island Historical Society to keep the property and 3rd oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes a viable and enjoyable place for the public to enjoy.”  In 2018
The Beaver Island Historical Society, in collaboration with Charlevoix County and Networks Northwest, raised funds to bring a group of historical preservation experts to the island in the summer of 2022. Eastern Michigan University's Historic Preservation Graduate Field School assesses the preservation needs of the Lighthouse in summer 0f 2022. Students did minor repairs and cleanup, but more importantly, drew sketches and laid plans for the next group of students from EMU that will continue to work on the project over the next four years. Listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places since 1978, the lighthouse is important nationally and historically and of great importance to the tourist industry on the island. In 2021, over 6000 visited the lighthouse.
 Charlevoix County and Networks Northwest continue to debate what to do with the lighthouse and have considered input from the community about its future. 
A bed and breakfast, a volunteer lighthouse keeper retreat and possibly, a dark sky interpretive center or park as the Beaver Island Dark Sky Project Committee is striving to include the lighthouse in its plans for a dark sky sanctuary.
Whatever happens to the property is dictated by the original contract which states it must made available for use by the public. The 171-acre grounds are enhanced with public restrooms, a walking path to the fog building and a staircase to the beach. Beaver Island is a bucket-list destination for lighthouse lovers who can visit Beaver Head Lighthouse and Whiskey Point Lighthouse and also can charter visits to White Shoals Lighthouse and Squaw Island Lighthouse. Also, visitors arriving from Charlevoix can pass the Charlevoix Lighthouse on the ferry trip to the island.  All lighthouses are places that matter, Beaver Head Lighthouse is one carefully preserved by dedicated community of volunteers.  To learn more about the Beaver Island Historical Society's mission to Preserve and Share the Unique History of the Archipelago please visit https://www.beaverislandhistory.org/  
Photo below is a display that was placed at the museum for the EMU students to view about the history of the Beaver Island Lighthouse School.  Below right, Cynthia Pryor gave an overview of the history of the Stone Circle.