Grand Marais in Cook County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
The Point Interpretive Site
Superior National Forest
Welcome!
The Point is a broad tombolo which defines the two natural harbors that have made Grand Marais an important spot on Lake Superior's shore for centuries. The 8.4 acre Point was conveyed to the federal government in 1942, and is part of the Superior National Forest. The small area is rich both in cultural and natural history. Its location has attracted a number of human settlers, but also hosts a large number of birds and unusual plant species. Please be careful in your explorations to not disturb either human artifacts from the past or the current plants and animals living here.
What's in a Name?
To people in this area, the water has always been more important than the land. The Ojibwe named the area Gitchi-bitobig (Great Duplicate Water) for the two bays, but only a generic name for the point between the bays is recorded. Later, the name Grand Marais was given to another water feature, meaning either a great marsh or a safe harbor, but the point was still unnamed. With the founding of the town, the local name of Mayhew Point appeared on maps. The name Artists' Point was coined in the 1970s, perhaps for tourist appeal, but the Point still has no official name.
The Wreck of the Stranger
On December 12, 1875, the 60 foot, 12 ton, gaff rigged schooner Stranger attempted to come to port in Grand Marais with a load of winter supplies including sugar and flour. Facing a gale force offshore wind, the ship could not come into the harbor and tie up successfully, and she had lost her anchor earlier. She attempted to come into the East Bay on the other side of the Point, but an ice laden boom made steering difficult, and she grounded on the rocks. Waves lifted her back off, but it was only a temporary respite.
She was taking on water and rolled three miles out, breaking her masts. The four man crew cut the rigging, allowing her to right herself, but when the Stranger came upright, only three people remained on the unsteerable hulk. A rescue craft pulled to within eight feet of the Stranger, but the crew was unable to receive the line thrown to them. The ship was last seen four miles out in the frigid lake, with the three doomed crew still aboard.
A Safer Harbor
The tragedy of the Stranger led to the creation of a dock in 1876 for the Mayhew brothers on the harbor side of the Point. This dock faced in a direction that would have allowed the Stranger to have safely tied up. It was followed by a breakwater in 1884 and a wood framed lighthouse in 1885. The lighthouse held a French-made 5th order Fresnel lens (on display at the Cook County Historical Society) and a 1500 pound fog bell. In 1902, a second light was added on the opposite point of the harbor entrance. The wooden lighthouse was replaced by the current lighthouse in 1922, but the original lens remained in place until 2008. The concrete seawall on the Point was built in 1936. It connected the breakwater to land and is used as a walkway to the lighthouse.
People of the Point
The Anishinabe, or Ojibwe people, have made this area home for thousands of years. Wigwams were on the Point itself at least through the fur trade era and probably before, and the first state recorded owner of the Point was Francis Rupain of the Lake Superior Chippewa in 1866. The first permanent house on the Point might have been the one Henry Mayhew built after securing the title in 1871. Later, Mayhew built a general store on the Point, and the docks built in 1876 were called the Mayhew docks. Joseph Mayhew, Henry's brother, became the original lighthouse keeper and moved into the keeper's house (now the Cook County Historical Society Museum) when it was constructed in 1896.
Just as they do today, people in the past visited the Point, drawn by the views of the lake and the town. You can still see where these early visitors carved their names and dates into the rock . Please avoid walking on these autographs, and don't add any more carvings to those from a bygone time.
The Two Towers
If you had been here in the 1930s, the most noticeable feature on the Point would have been two towers, one on the eastern side and one on the western side. On the west, a USDA Forest Service fire tower built in 1928 soared 85 feet into the air and watched for forest fires that might threaten the town.
On the east end of the Point was a Coast Guard watch tower. This tower focused on the lake instead of the forest, looking for ships in distress, and possibly rum runners from across the border during Prohibition. Although the Forest Service tower came down in 1943, the concrete footings of both towers can still be found on the Point.
photo captions (counterclockwise from top-left):
Grand Marais light in storm © Paul Sundberg, used with permission
Historic carving on rock from 1902
Mayhew store - Cook Co Hist Soc
Point visitors - Cook Co Hist Soc
Henry Mayhew Cook Co Hist
Mayhew dock - Cook Co Hist Soc
Point visitors - Cook Co Hist Soc
USFS Fire tower - Cook Co Hist Soc
Footings of USFS Fire tower
USFS Fire tower - Cook Co Hist Soc
Coast Guard tower - Cook Co Hist Soc
View of Coast Guard tower from fire tower - Cook Co Hist Soc
Footing of Coast Guard tower
Grand Marais harbor and the Point, circa 1876 - Library of Congress
The Point and Coast Guard station - © Paul Sundberg, used with permission
Erected by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1866.
Location. 47° 44.74′ N, 90° 19.953′ W. Marker is in Grand Marais, Minnesota, in Cook County. Marker can be reached from Broadway Avenue, ¼ mile south of Wisconsin Street, on the left when traveling south. Located at the beginning of the Grand Marais Breakwater Trail, southeast of the U.S. Coast Guard station. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Grand Marais MN 55604, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Natural History of the Point (here, next to this marker); Grand Marais Harbor (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Pulpwood Rafting (about 700 feet away); a different marker also named The Grand Marais Harbor (approx. 0.3 miles away); Geology of Minnesota (approx. 0.3 miles away); Bally Blacksmith Shop (approx. 0.3 miles away); St. Francis Xavier Church (approx. 1.3 miles away); Chippewa City (approx. 1.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Grand Marais.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 5, 2022. It was originally submitted on August 4, 2022. This page has been viewed 100 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on August 4, 2022.