Split Rock Lighthouse Atop the Cliffs of Lake Superior

Split Rock Lighthouse sits atop a 130-foot cliff above Lake Superior in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, near Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Minnesota Historical Society operates the site, which the U.S. Lighthouse Service built in 1910 after a string of shipwrecks, including the 1905 wreck of the Mataafa, exposed the need for a beacon along this stretch of the North Shore. The light's beam originally reached 22 miles across the water. The Coast Guard deactivated it in 1969, and it's now maintained as a historic site rather than an active aid to navigation. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Photo taken in September 2025.