MARBLEHEAD, Ohio — A historic landmark in Northeast Ohio is marking a major milestone. 

What You Need To Know

  • Marblehead Lighthouse sits on the shore of Lake Erie

  • The light in the lighthouse has shined in the darkness continuously for 200 years

  • It's the longest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, according to Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources

Marblehead Lighthouse is celebrating its 200th year of continuous service as a navigational aid. 

Meghan Veeley is a naturalist with the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources. This is her third year guiding guests up the 77 steps of the lighthouse’s spiral staircase to the balcony. 

“It is an open-grated cast iron spiral staircase put in in 1897,” she said. 

The 25-year-old enjoys sharing the history and learning more all the time. 

“Now, I just look up facts, and it’s something you just do on a regular Tuesday,” she said. 

Up another short flight of stairs, from the balcony, is a portion of the lighthouse under Coast Guard control. That’s where the light is housed. 

“This one is a halogen bulb,” she said. “It was put in last year. We were struck by lightning, so they had to re-fix everything.”

These days the light comes on automatically when there’s a storm or darkness. 

“It blinks once every six seconds so the boats can see all the way out until the earth starts to curve just to make sure, ‘Hey, don’t run into the rocks,’” Veeley said. “Because Lake Erie is shallow, it’s also very dangerous.”

Marblehead Lighthouse is open for tours all summer through Labor Day and special events are planned all season to honor the building’s long legacy of service.