Split Rock, Two Harbors and the lights of Lake Superior
Lake Superior’s shipping history is written in its lighthouses, and the Minnesota shore has the most photographed one in the state. Two of them sit within twenty minutes of each other, and both are open to visitors in season.
Split Rock is the icon; Two Harbors is the working one you can sleep in. Combine them with the ore docks in Two Harbors and you have a half-day of North Shore maritime history between hikes.
Both lights are easy days from town lodging — The Harbors and Superior Shores Resort are minutes from the Two Harbors light, and Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay is ten minutes from Split Rock.
Lit in 1910 on a 130-foot cliff and restored to its 1920s appearance, with the keeper’s house, fog signal building and tower open for tours. The lakewalk trail below gives you the classic view from the shoreline.
Minnesota’s oldest continuously operating lighthouse, active since 1892 — and it runs as a bed and breakfast, so you can stay in the keeper’s quarters above Agate Bay.
The lighthouse sits above the working docks where thousand-foot ore boats still load taconite. Check the shipping schedule and watch a laker come in from the breakwater.
The North and South Pier lights frame the Duluth ship canal beside the Aerial Lift Bridge — the busiest lighthouse-watching in the state.
A small red light at the end of the Grand Marais breakwater, and a good excuse to drive the upper shore.
Both Split Rock and Two Harbors face east-ish — sunrise is the shot, and a fall or winter morning with steam on the lake beats a summer afternoon.
Split Rock Lighthouse, built in 1910 on a cliff between Two Harbors and Beaver Bay, is the most photographed structure in Minnesota. It sits inside Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and offers historic site tours in season.
About 20 miles northeast on Highway 61, roughly a 25-minute drive. Gooseberry Falls is 13 miles up the same road, so most visitors do both in one outing.
Yes. The Two Harbors Light is Minnesota's oldest working lighthouse, sits on the Agate Bay waterfront next to the ore docks, and operates as a bed and breakfast and museum in the middle of town.
