Port Sanilac Light placement and the unique shape were dictated by and created because of budgetary constraints (Congress appropriated only half the money requested). Designed by Eleventh District Engineer Captain Charles E. L. B. Davis, the design has been called "both unique and architecturally significant in its elegance." The tower is white with a red roof. This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design with only one other, Ile Aux Galets, also known as Skilligallee Island Light, on Lake Michigan. The Port Sanilac Light tower is capped with a cast iron lantern room, which still houses a fourth order Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier and
Ship Shoal Light the water. The paint was stripped and the tanks relined with coal tar. The tower survived many hurricanes, but over time the tower developed a considerable tilt, which placement of granite blocks around the footings in 1896 was not sufficient to remedy. The beacon was automated in 1929 and discontinued in 1965, and the tower abandoned, though quick flashing lights were set on the structure to warn of the obstruction. The town of Berwick plans to move the tower to a park in the town, adjoining the Southwest Reef Light which has already been relocated there, but Ship Shoal Light