Take a look.

- [Adam] 129.

That's the number of lighthouses that dot Michigan shorelines, more than any other state.

And out here in the middle of the St.

Marys River is one lighthouse with a pretty remarkable story.

- Lighthouses were built, of course, to help ships navigate the waterway.

And DeTour Reef Light was in a very strategic historical position at the end of the St.

Marys River, which trafficked from Lake Huron and Lake Superior, going back and forth and then out to other lakes.

This lighthouse helps ships navigate so they can build our country.

- In the case of lighthouses, there's a certain romanticism involved.

The life of the lighthouse keeper and his family.

The solitude of that, I think, is something that has a certain romantic attraction to a lot of people.

- [Adam] Built in 1931, the DeTour Reef Light Station is a unique steel-frame tower rising three stories above the water.

- We are sitting in about 20 feet of water.

on top of a reef, which is a raised area in Lake Huron.

And we are about a mile and a half off the shore of DeTour, as well as about two miles away from Drummond Island, and just a handful of miles from Canada.

- [Adam] The Coast Guard rendered the light station obsolete in 1997.

That could have been the end of its story.

Instead, the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society was organized.

- The society was formed by a group of residents on Drummond Island, who back in the late 1990s discovered that owing to the lighthouse that many of them could see out of their windows being declared surplus by the U.S.

government, it was going to be demolished.

- January 7, 1998, we had a meeting with a few local people and established our society, the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society.

And from that point on, we had just wonderful people that came together to try to help us get this organization off the ground with press releases, membership drives, and of course going after funds, especially grants.

- [Adam] Jeri and her team were passionate and persistent as they took on the challenge of saving this piece of Michigan history.

They secured grants, navigated years of paperwork, and worked to gain ownership through the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

On August 17, 2005, the society received a letter from the Park Service, approving its application for ownership, even applauding their commitment to preserving our nation's maritime heritage.

- What comes up, and see, all of this is new to the state of Michigan.

As far as lighthouse restoration, this is all new to everybody.

The subject of the lighthouse sits on the bottomlands that's owned by the state of Michigan.

So how do you do that?

- More paperwork.

The society's legal team worked for years to negotiate and secure an agreement.

- Finally, everything was put in place, and the government presented us a ceremonial key in Traverse City at the Michigan lighthouse gathering.

- [Adam] The lighthouse was theirs.

Restoration work was complete, and the public was invited inside.

- We started the volunteer keeper program back in the very early days, 2006, only about a year after the restoration was completed.

Because again, one of the mandates of the National Lighthouse Preservation Act was to make the facility available to the public for cultural reasons and for educational reasons.

And people loved it.

We initially opened it up for weekend visits to the light, which moved on to actual weekend overnight stays at the light.

And today, the light is occupied seven days a week from Father's Day weekend to Labor Day weekend every summer.

- As owners of this light, we are very committed to not only preserving the lighthouse as a building, but preserving its history and getting people from around the world to the best offshore lighthouse experience.

- I don't want to call it exactly a bed and breakfast kind of stay because we don't provide the breakfast, but we do provide the beds and hot and cold running water, electricity, lights, you can charge your cell phone.

Aside from that, we provide just total solitude.

It's also a very satisfying feeling of being kind of one with the lake.

- [Adam] I spent sunrise surrounded by water, sipping coffee from a lighthouse mug and simply taking it all in.

What an unforgettable experience.

As I climbed down the stairs and watched my camera gear being lowered behind me, I realized I was leaving with more than just a great story.

I was leaving with a newfound appreciation for the people who have worked so hard to preserve this remarkable piece of Michigan history.

- Everybody takes a different thing away from staying at an offshore lighthouse.

But to me, one of the big things would be just to share in the joy that we have found in restoring this place and making it available to everyone.

And knowledge that anything like this is possible when enough people come together with a vision to preserve a bit of our history.

I hope that people come away with that.