M arquette is a sunrise town. From South Beach to Little Presque Isle includes over fourteen miles of eastward facing shoreline, featuring an array of breakwaters, sandy beaches, rocky cliffs, islands, lighthouses and panoramic views of Lake Superior.
Since 2014 it has been home. Since Year of the Sunrise began, it has become something more. Many of these locations aren’t just familiar places of home, but places I feel an intimate connection with, where I could walk blindfolded and know where each and every root is. That’s how it feels anyway, but I would definitely trip and break my face.
It’s hard to imagine taking on this journey in other places. When the sunrises do become monotonous, it’s only because of laziness, never for a shortage of new vantage points to explore. With a handful of local coffee shops to choose from each morning and a support arts and downtown community, life after sunrise is quite fitting as well.
As the kids would say, it’s a vibe.
Of the 1,210 published sunrises, 90.7% have been photographed from Marquette. Yet there are so many places I haven’t been, and so many places I haven’t been back to in different seasons. I still need to do better at getting to some lesser known places, and sucking it up and getting out the door earlier to get to them.
This wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the hard work of the Marquette parks department. Sometimes on those earliest or most uninspired sunrises, it’s just me and the park department employees out there. I’m not sure what they think of seeing me out there all the time, but I’m routinely impressed with their work ethic to keep tidy the places I so frequently make use of. Leslie Knope would be proud.
From baristas to neighbors to customers to tourists to fellow beach goers and everyone in between, thank you Marquette, for being the home of these sunrise years.
Here are some of my favorite locations...
Black Rocks
Bugsy's Perch
Bum's Beach
Clark Lambros Park
Coast Guard Station
Dead River Basin
Founders Landing
Founders Landing Boardwalk
Gaines Rock
Harlow Creek
Harlow Lake
Lakeshore Bike Path
Lakeshore Boulevard
Little Presque Isle
Lower Harbor Breakwall
Lower Harbor Ore Dock
Marquette Harbor Lighthouse
Marquette Yacht Club
Mattson Lower Harbor
McCarty's Cove
McCarty's Playground
Mount Marquette
Mouth of the Carp
NOAA Station MCGM4
Pebble Beach
Picnic Rocks
Presque Isle
Presque Isle Breakwall
Shiras Park
South Beach
Sugarloaf Mountain
Superior Dome
Thill's Fish Dock
Upper Harbor Ore Dock
Wetmore Landing
Whetstone Brook