The Wind Point Lighthouse, just north of Racine, Wisconsin, overlooks Lake Michigan. About an hour's drive north of Chicago, it is one of the more beautiful lighthouses along the Wisconsin coast. I was out at sunset, flying my drone and shooting a video near the top of the lighthouse. Being on the west side of the lake, the sun was setting behind me. The drone was set to circle the lighthouse automatically in Intelligent Flight Mode. As the drone circled, I suddenly saw a flash of light on the lighthouse window appear on my screen. It was a reflection of the setting sun off to the west, and the drone quickly moved past it.
I immediately turned off the automatic flight mode, stopped the recording, and backed the drone up to where I had seen the flash. It took several tries to find the exact spot where the sun reflected, but once I did, I set the drone to capture a still image and made this shot.
Having shot this lighthouse from ground level many times, I was happy to get high enough to include part of the lake in the picture. This view looks south toward Racine Point, just to the right of the lighthouse in this picture. This point blocked the light from Racine Harbor's original lighthouse for ships approaching from the north. So, a new lighthouse was built here at the Village of Wind Point.
First lit in 1880, the lighthouse is one of the oldest active lighthouses on the Great Lakes and, at 108 feet (33 m), one of the tallest. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Today, the Village of Wind Point is responsible for caring for the lighthouse and its surrounding grounds.