07/16/2026
Seen here is likely the 4" well pipe from the 2nd Tail Point Lighthouse. The well was drilled in 1883 and the water it produced was called "soft and pure."
The second lighthouse was built just to the right of this well, out of frame in 1859 to replace the 1849 stone tower seen in the distance. The stone tower is located on the inner, south side of the point, where the "new" lighthouse was located on the more exposed (but more visible) northern side.
Now known as Long Tail Point, this ever changing, sandy finger of land is located at the southern end of the bay of Green Bay, roughly 3 miles from the mouth of the Fox River and the port of Green Bay. Much of the point is only about 400-800 feet wide, but it extends about half way across the 7 mile wide bay. The shifting sand bars at its tip end only at the dredged ship channel. In fact, the entire lower bay in this area is incredibly shallow from centuries of north winds depositing sand here. Many areas are less than 10 feet deep.
I mentioned the sand bars at the tip of the point are interrupted by the shipping channel...I wish I could tell you why the stone lighthouse is located almost a mile from the tip of the point, but this silly placement aligns with the placement of many other lighthouses of this era.
The oversight of placement and construction of lighthouses pre-1853 lighthouses was very minimal, leading to many lighthouses of this era being both poorly located and horribly built.
The stone lighthouse only lasted 10 years before the water level rose and threatened to topple the tower. In 1859 the second lighthouse was built, still almost a mile from the shipping channel, but on the northern side on higher ground and more visible to approaching ships.
In July of 1890, a fog bell was placed into operation, but was also located a mile from the shipping channel.
Just 4 years later, mariners recommended both the fog signal and the lighthouse to be relocated to a crib at the tip of the point.
Appropriations took an additional 4 years before the third Tail Point Lighthouse was able to be built throughout the summer of 1899. The second lighthouse was retained as a dwelling for keepers. The fog bell was moved to the new crib light, and the tower it was formerly mounted on relocated to Sand Point light in Escanaba.
The third lighthouse was automated in 1936 and the second lighthouse building was sold and was required to be removed for the creation of the migratory waterfowl refuge the point exists as today. Some time later, the house was being moved across the ice in what's now known as "Dead Horse Bay" when its trailer broke through. The house was dismantled on the spot.
I grew up in this area, spending a lot of time swimming off of Long Tail, and I've heard since childhood that a horse also broke through the ice and died during this incident, giving the bay its name, but I haven't found any documentation to support that.
Reference material says the 2nd house was removed from the point the winter 1936/37, however aerial photos from 1938 show the lighthouse still on site.
The now automated 3rd lighthouse on the concrete crib was washed off the crib on April 9, 1973 during an unusually strong storm. The storm flooded much of the east side of Green Bay and received extensive coverage in the paper.
Normally, vegetation (many invasive phragmites) makes access difficult and seeing ruins nearly impossible. This spring, the Wisconsin DNR conducted a controlled burn of the invasive reed grass. Recently I took a boat ride out there to go swimming with my daughter and took a few minutes to go exploring a little. This well pipe was the first thing I found. About 20 feet to the right are two stone blocks, like I would expect to be at the corners of a kitchen built off the main house.
Nearby are some partially buried red bricks, I presume may have been from the oil house.
See the other photos, maps and charts to help paint the picture. I'm hoping to go back out next week with another lighthouse historian to try and get a better idea of the layout before the vegetation grows back. Who knows what we might find!
Stay Tuned!
