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
Port Austin Light it is possible to photograph the lighthouse from shore, although it takes a long lens or digital zoom. The light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2011. The site includes adjacent bottom lands. A two-story on shore lighthouse keeper's house still exists. In June 2011, the General Services Administration made the Port Austin Light (along with 11 others) available at no cost to public organizations willing to preserve them. On July 19, 2012 it was announced that the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse Association, a Michigan non-profit organization, will take ownership of the Port Austin Light