Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse
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The Fairport Harbor
Marine Museum and Lighthouse
"The light that shone for 100 years"
1825 - 1925
fitz
Speakers Bureau
Museum Highlights
Tours and Groups
Season Events Calendar
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DIRECTIONS
MEMBERSHIP
EVENTS

The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse
is featured in the WBGU PBS Series:
Illuminating the Great Lakes -
Lighthouses of Lake Erie
Premieres
September 11, 2025.
 
Air Dates For the Series:
Beacons of the Past
(History of Lighthouses &
Lighthouse Keepers)
September 11th @ 9:00PM
Preserving the Light
(Storys of the Lighthouses Restoration)
September 18th @ 9:00PM
Shining Forward
(Lake Erie Health, Festivals &
Lighthouse Love)
September 25th @ 9:00PM

The searchable archive
copies of the
Fairport Beacon
Newspaper
(1935 -1960) are now online. The Fairport Harbor Public Library has made these available and may be accessed at
https://fairportlibrary.
historyarchives.online/home



The Library also has the
Harding High School Yearbooks
(1923 -2001) online at
https://fairportlibrary.com/
fairport- harbor-high-school-yearbooks/


News5 features the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse as a
"Hidden Gem"


lens


tower
1871

 
 


The Fairport Harbor Marine Museum is the first
Great Lakes Lighthouse Marine Museum in the
State of Ohio , as well as the United States.
The museum, which also has a small gift shop, is located
at 129 Second St., Fairport Harbor, OH 44077.
Summer Hours for 2025 are
Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and
Legal Holidays - Noon - 6:00pm
For more information call (440) 354-4825 or
email - keeper@fairportharborlighthouse.org

  The museum was founded in 1945 by the Fairport Harbor Historical Society, which is devoted to preserving and perpetuating the historic tradition of Fairport Harbor and the Great Lakes area.
    The original lighthouse was completed in 1825. The tower stood thirty feet high, capped with an octagonal-shaped iron lantern. The lighthouse was accompanied by a two-story keeper's house. Due to deterioration the tower and keeper's house had to be replaced. Rebuilt in 1871, the tower now stands sixty feet high and has a spiral staircase of 69 steps which leads to an observation platform. In 1925 the light in the tower (a third-order Fresnel lens) was discontinued.
It was replaced by a combination light and foghorn station which was built on the west breakwater pier head.

   The museum houses a number of artifacts pertaining to life on the Great Lakes and other maritime exhibits. Attached to the museum is the former pilothouse from the Great Lakes carrier the "Frontenac". More info.......
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Visitors Photo Gallery

Our Lighthouse is Featured
in the June Ohio Magazine.

 










 

Visit our facebook page for more pictures and updated info.
 
   
 

50th Anniversary
Wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald


Remembrance Ceremony
November 10, 2025
VFW Post 7754
Click for more info...

2025 ANNUAL FUND DONATION DRIVE
The Historical Society’s finances have been seriously drained over the past year due to
necessary repairs and maintenance.
The USS Michigan mast was restored and re-dedicated in May with these funds. We also used these funds to purchase an Automated Emergency Defibrillator (AED) for the museum.
Click for more info...

     

Scan with your phone to donate now.

Thank You for your continued support.


Click to read Dan Maxson's
blog detailing the history of the Mardi Gras Festival


Follow
Local Lore by Max
every Monday and Thursday
in the News-Herald Blog
ghostcat
Timeline of
Fairport Harbor
History
coastalohio
The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse
is part of the
Lake Erie
Coastal Ohio Trail.


A gallery of all the Virtual Content the
National Museum of the Great Lakes.

 
 
   

 

MarineTraffic Live Map

 

Other Lighthouse and Shipping websites:

MarineTraffic
Boat Nerd

The Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association
The United States Lighthouse Society
Northeast Ohio Inter-Museum Council

Links Page