Minnesota’s most photographed lighthouse on a 130-foot cliff
Split Rock Lighthouse stands on a sheer cliff above Lake Superior, lit in 1910 to guide ore boats past a stretch of shoreline that had wrecked several of them, and decommissioned in 1969. It is the most photographed lighthouse in Minnesota and the state park wrapped around it is one of the most rewarding stops on Highway 61.
Two things worth knowing: the historic site — the tower, keeper’s dwellings and fog signal building, run by the Minnesota Historical Society — charges its own admission separate from the state park vehicle permit, and the classic postcard view is not from the lighthouse itself but from the shoreline trail below it, a five-minute walk down to the pebble beach.
This is the closest state park to Beaver Bay — roughly ten minutes from Cove Point Lodge and North Shore Camping Co. — and about twenty minutes north of Superior Shores Resort and The Harbors in Two Harbors.
Split Rock Lighthouse State Park · 3755 Split Rock Lighthouse Road, Two Harbors, MN 55616 · open daily 8am–10pm · Minnesota state park vehicle permit required · Directions · Official park page (MN DNR) · Lighthouse tours (MNHS)
Restored to its 1920s appearance with costumed interpreters in season. Climb the tower, see the third-order Fresnel lens, and tour the homes where three keepers’ families lived.
Follow the trail down to the cobble beach southwest of the light for the view every photograph is taken from — best at sunrise, or on a winter morning with steam coming off the lake.
A short climb to a rock knob with a long shoreline view, past the remains of the fishing village that stood here before the light.
Just southwest of the park, a 5-mile Superior Hiking Trail loop climbs one side of a rhyolite gorge past cascades and returns with Lake Superior views.
Twenty walk-in campsites along the shoreline, plus a kayak site — some of the best lakeside tent camping on the North Shore, and no RVs.
The park grooms cross-country ski trails along the lake with the lighthouse in view. The grounds stay open in winter even when the tower interiors close.
Two fees apply. A Minnesota state park vehicle permit covers parking and the trails, including the shoreline view of the lighthouse. Touring the tower and keeper's dwellings is a separate Minnesota Historical Society admission.
From the cobble beach on the shoreline trail below and southwest of the light — about a five-minute walk. That is the angle in nearly every photograph, and it is free with a park permit.
The park and grounds stay open year-round, and the park grooms ski trails along the lake. The tower and historic building interiors close for the winter, with the visitor center on reduced hours.
About 10 miles south on Highway 61, roughly 12 minutes — the closest state park to Cove Point Lodge and North Shore Camping Co.
