Published August 16, 2022, for State 48 A2Z
As you may already know or may have read here before, Lake Havasu City is well-known for its being a beautiful lakeside town in the vast Sonoran Desert, as well as being the home of the historic London Bridge for the past 50-some years. But that is not the only thing drawing visitors from all over the world to the young city on the eastern shores of Lake Havasu. So, what has not only the residents of Lake Havasu City as well as its roughly 850,000 visitors a year all abuzz? Simply put, it’s lighthouses.
Technically, they are not true lighthouses but are more automated navigational lights that are scaled-down replicas of 25 famous lighthouses from around the United States, one from New Brunswick, Canada, and one non-replica lighthouse that line the Arizona and California shores of Lake Havasu and Lake Havasu City’s Bridgewater Channel to help guide boaters.
Prior to 2000, there was nothing to help guide boaters and alert them of the shorelines on the lake after sunset or in reduced visibility conditions. Before the installation of these lighthouses, navigating the lake, bay, and channel was dangerously scary and boating accidents were much more common. That was when a group of concerned citizens formed an organization to help improve boating safety on the very popular lake.
Lake Havasu City Lighthouse Club was founded around 2000 to help provide much-needed safety on the waters around the city with the installation of these navigational lights. Shortly after forming the club set about finding the needed funds for this ongoing project.
The first of these navigational lights, the non-replica one, was installed at the entrance of Lake Havasu Marina in 2000 with an additional 26 replicas added between 2002 and 2017. In all there are twelve of these lights on the Island, three on the mainland side of the Channel and Thompson Bay, five along the southern part of the lake and the Colorado River going towards the Parker Dam, and seven along the California lake/river-side coastline
While they could easily have built, or installed, standard run-of-the-mill automated navigational lights, but the idea to model these lights after famous lighthouses was sheer brilliance, as they are responsible for helping to draw visitors to the town each year. I can tell you that, while the lighthouses may have not been the exact thing that drew me to Lake Havasu City, they were high on my list to visit a few when we planned our trip there this past April, right behind the London Bridge.
The Lake Havasu City Lighthouse Club was able the raise necessary funding through donations, which has fully paid for all the installations and maintenance of the lighthouses. Each lighthouse took between two to three months to build and are inspected monthly to determine if repairs or cleaning are needed. While the lighthouses remain a nice draw for visitors to this desert oasis town, their main purpose is proving safety for those on the water.
The very first replica, which was erected in 2002, was the West Quoddy Lighthouse on the northeast corner of the Island at the north opening to Bridgewater Channel. This was modeled after the famous lighthouse of the same name in Lubec, Maine. Since then, the group has added 25 other replicas from famous lighthouses such as Cape Hatteras (Buxton, NC), Vermillion (OH), Split Rock (Two Harbors, MN), White Shoal (MI), Navy Pier (Chicago, IL), Fire Island (Long Island, NY), Cape Henry ( Virginia Beach, VA), and Umpqua River (OR), to name a few.
Many of these lighthouses are only able to be seen well from the lake so you may want to consider one of the boat services available that feature a Lighthouse Tour, or maybe rent a boat for the day and self-tour. Better yet you can bring your own boat with you. I know it would have made things easier for me if I would have thought of using a tour service before going there. Trying to drive to them was difficult, especially with a limited time frame. I only had time to shoot a few of these as a result.
Whatever your reason for heading to Lake Havasu City is, you will find a lot to do in and around the lake and Channel. But I am sure you will want to catch some of the lighthouses as well. They are all very cool to checkout. For a complete list of lighthouses visit the Lake Havasu City Lighthouse Club’s page.
That’ll wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. And, if you go somewhere in Arizona that you think others should know about, please let us know so we can add it to our travel list. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!
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