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The Atlas/Minnesota/Split Rock Lighthouse

Split Rock Lighthouse

Minnesota
Region
Attraction
Stop type
Standalone stop
Atlas

Split Rock Lighthouse stands on a 130-foot rhyolite cliff above Lake Superior at 3713 Split Rock Lighthouse Road, Two Harbors, MN 55616, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. Built in 1910 after the 1905 Mataafa Storm wrecked dozens of ships on the North Shore, the lighthouse is one of the most-photographed structures in Minnesota. The site includes a fully restored light tower, fog signal building, and keeper's dwelling — all open for guided tours in season (mid-May through October). The historic footpath from the parking area descends to a shoreline viewpoint where the cliff face and lighthouse can be seen in the same frame, a classic North Shore shot. It sits at approximately MN-61 milepost 46, roughly 20 miles northeast of Two Harbors.

// The stop

Built in 1910 after a single November storm damaged 29 ships on Lake Superior, Split Rock Lighthouse has a reason behind it that matches the drama of its setting. The U.S. Lighthouse Service placed the station on a sheer cliff above the water specifically because that stretch of North Shore was so dangerous to the iron ore freighters running out of Minnesota's Iron Range — and because there was no navigational aid between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. All construction materials had to arrive by boat and be hoisted up from the lake below, since no road reached the site until 1924. The light guided ships for nearly six decades before being decommissioned in 1969, and the Minnesota Historical Society has since restored the station to its early 1920s appearance.

What riders find today is a complete historic station: the original tower with its French-built Fresnel lens still mounted on its clockwork mechanism, the fog signal building, the oil house, and a keeper's dwelling, all open for guided tours in season. The Minnesota Historical Society operates the paid historic site; parking is free during site hours. A footpath from the parking area descends to a pebble shoreline where the full height of the cliff and the tower above it can be seen together — the angle that has made this one of the most-photographed structures in the state. Every year on November 10, the lighthouse also lights its beacon in memory of the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, lost on Lake Superior in 1975.

// Why riders stop

The single most recognizable landmark on MN-61 — a cliff-top lighthouse with a free roadside overlook plus a paid grounds tour, and a pebble-beach lower viewpoint where the cliff-face-and-tower shot is unmissable. Ample parking, clean restrooms, and a gift shop make it an easy planned stop between Duluth and Silver Bay.

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