Pier & Breakwater (1939):  Cribs built with creosote-treated timbers tied together with galvanized bolts, filled with stone and decked with heavy planks.  Built by US Coast Guard (USCG); Public Works project.

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Boathouse (1939):  'Roosevelt-type' Colonial Revival Style 46x62' 1.5 story cedar shingled wood building.  Last remaining structure of this type of architecture on the western side of Lake Michigan.  2010 FOPPI spearheaded major restoration including lead paint removal, painting & window replacement.  Listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

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Crew Quarters (1896):  Major renovation in 1929.  Last remaining Duluth-style crew quarters on the Great Lakes.  Wood shingles, divided into two distinct sections:  35x31' two-story east end living quarters; 25x41' west end 2-bay boat room; 4-story watch tower in center.  1929 boat bays enclosed, converted to sleeping quarters, foundation raised three feet; indoor plumbing installed.  March 1896 Capain Ingar Olsen appointed first keeper.  The station remained in active service until 1992.  Listed on National Register of Historic Place in 2010.

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Outbuilding (1896):  Small one-story wood shingle-sided structure.  Originally two-seater outhouse; later storage for coal, wood and paint.

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Flagpole (1927):  Pyramidal steel skeletal tower.  Cross spar used to display signal flags indicating coded messages for mariners.

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Radio Tower (1960s):  Steel skeletal tower.  AM/FM antennae used by Coast Guard.  A steel skeletal radio tower as early as 1929.  Current tower 1960s.

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Doghouse / Well-head Cover:  Small clapboard structure.  Probably built as a doghouse, then moved to become a cover for a well-head.

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Disel Tank Supports (date unknown):  Concrete cradles used to support giant diesel-fuel tanks.  Tanks were removed; only cradles remain.

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Patrol Trail (1896):  US Life Saving Service (USLSS) pathway around Plum Island.  Surfmen walked the road looking for vessels in distress.  Lifesavers punched a timeclock when leaving and return from patrol; used flares to notify others if they spotted a wreck.  Also used for beach cart which transported a Lyle gun (small mortar used to launch lines to foundering ships) to remote sites.  The line formed rigging for breeches buoy - a doughnut-shaped cork float with pant-like legs suspended from the middle.

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Cross-island railway (1896):  USLSS .625-mile unimproved track allowed communication between staff of crew quarters and range lights; transportation of materials.  

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Keepers' Quarters (1896):  Lighthouse Board.  50x32' two-story cream city brick double house.  Keeper's house and two assistant keeper apartments.  First Keeper appointed in March 1897, Martin Knudsen.  Light operational May 1897.  Indoor plumbing not installed until 1951.  After WWII building closed and all activities consolidated to Coast Guard Station.  Listed on National Register of Historic Places 2010.

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Fog Signal Building (1896):  Modified after WWII.  Lighthouse Board.  20x40' single-story cream city brick building.  Wooden watch room added for use of Coast Guard after Keeper's Dwelling closed.  Signal powered by boilers; replaced by 10' steam whistle in 1902; diesel powered Tyfon signal in 1931.  Signal:  3 second blast; 17-second silence.  Discontinued in 1975.  Listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

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Front Range Light (1896):  Replaced in 1964.  Lighthouse Board.  Original wood framed 30' tall tower; lantern room contained a sixth-order Fresnel lens illuminated by a fixed red light visible for more than eight miles in good weather.  Electrified in 1931.  Replaced by steel skeletal tower topped with electric beacon.  Fully automated in 1969 when power cable run from Northport.  List on National Register in 2010.

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Rear Range Light (1896):  Lighthouse Board.  70' tall, prefabricated cast iron and steel 'skeletal tower' with central column, stabilized by four tubular cast iron legs braced with diagonal rods, topped by watch room and lantern room.  Contained fourth-order Fresnel lens illuminated by a fixed red light.  Beacon visible up t0 13 miles in good weather.  A pair of beacons separated from one another by distance and height and positioned along a specific compass bearing, range lights enabled navigators to plot a safe course through treacherous waters by maneuvering their vessels until the lights were vertically aligned one above the other - and following that trajectory.  In the case of Death's Door range lights would keep ships entering Green Bay from Lake Michigan from venturing too far north before turning to pass between Plum Island and the Door Peninsula.  Strong winds in the area were also a determining factor.  Electrified in 1931.  Fully automated in 1969 when power cable run from Northport.  Listed on National Register of Historic Placed in 2010.  Original Fresnel lens now on display in the Door County Maritime Museum in Gills Rock.

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Porte des Morts, Port du Mor, or Plum Island Lighthouse (1849):  Abandoned when Pilot Island light built in 1858.  Lighthouse Board.  Native stone square dwelling attached to round beacon tower.  In ruins.  Due to lack of input from mariners and government contract going to cheapest bidder, original light was poorly located, poorly constructed and poorly lit by an inferior system of lamps and reflectors patented by Winslow Lewis in 1810.  'In only a few months, reports of the dwelling falling apart were already reaching the Office of the Inspector of Lights . . . The keeper and his family had already began shoring up the walls with timbers and the brick oven and cellar walls had begun caving in and whenever it rained or the winds were high, the tower leaked so much that the lantern was usually extinguished.'  Equipment eventually salvaged for Pilot Island.  Robert Noble tried to shelter in the ruined structure during his infamous snowstorm ordeal of 1863.  2014 and 2015 Hamline University archeological survey documented footprint for original kitchen, pottery and toys.