What to See in Two Harbors - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Edna G is a tugboat which worked the Great Lakes and is now preserved as a museum ship. Edna G was built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in 1896 for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at a cost $35,397.50. She was named for the daughter of J. L. Greatsinger, president of the railroad.

She has a length of 92.42 feet (28.17 m), a beam of 23 feet (7.0 m), a depth of 7.42 feet (2.26 m), a gross register tonnage of 154 tons, and a net register tonnage of 67 tons.

Home-ported at Two Harbors, Minnesota, Edna G moved ships and barges carrying iron ore and taconite from the Mesabi Range and other smaller sites in the Iron Range region of northeast Minnesota. She spent her entire working career at Two Harbors with the exception of World War I (1917–1919) when she served on the eastern seaboard. She was out of service from 1931 to 1933 due to the depression.

Over the years Edna G was involved in several shipwreck rescues including the surviving crew of the Madeira. Her last tow was the Cason J. Calloway on December 30, 1980. She was the last coal-fired, steam-engine tug in service on the lakes when she was retired in 1981.

Edna G. is one of the attractions of the Lake County Historical Society in Two Harbors. Following reports of continued weakening of the hull though corrosion and exposure to ice, in January 2017 Two Harbors City Council initiated further studies of the viability of continuing her preservation ashore.^[1]

Lighthouse in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Two Harbors Light is the oldest operating lighthouse in the US state of Minnesota. Overlooking Lake Superior's Agate Bay, the lighthouse is located in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The construction of the lighthouse began in 1891 and was completed the following year, with the light being lit for the first time on April 14, 1892. The first Two Harbors keeper was Charles Lederle and there were normally three keepers assigned to make sure the light was lit every day. The Lighthouse was built to provide safe passage into the Agate Bay Harbor during the early 20th century, as Two Harbors was a major shipping point for the iron ore of the Mesabi Range.

The 49.6-foot (15.1 m) tower is made of red brick and the head keeper's residence is attached; it towers 78 feet (24 m) from the lake level to the top and is 12 feet (3.7 m) squared. The walls of the tower were built to be three bricks thick and the walls where the tower and house meet are a full five bricks thick. This was for the safety of the keeper's family. The light has a total of six structures: a lighthouse tower with attached keeper's quarters, an assistant keeper's house, a fog signal building, an oil house, a skiff house, and a garage. The lighthouse was originally equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens. The lighthouse is a twin of the Round Island Light in Michigan.

In 1969 the Coast Guard removed the Fresnel lens and replaced it with a 24 inches (610 mm) DCB-224 aerobeacon which is still used today. The light shines an average of 17 nautical miles (31 km; 20 mi). The original lens was loaned by the US Coast Guard to the National Museum of the Great Lakes. In early 2015, the lens was moved back to Two Harbors and is now on is now on display in the dining room of the Keeper's Quarters.

The Lake County Historical Society began to provide tours of the Lighthouse Station in 1988 when it was granted a lease by the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1999 ownership was transferred to the Lake County Historical Society and the Society assumed responsibility for the operation of the light in 2001. While the lighthouse is still on the Light List as active, it is listed as a private aid to navigation and is no longer maintained by the Coast Guard.

Three of the lighthouse station's buildings are open for visitors to tour:

• the Lighthouse Tower which has been restored and houses the rotating light
• the Assistant Keeper's building which has been restored to the late 19th century era and has exhibits about Lake Superior shipwrecks, the development of Agate Bay and a kiosk with historical information on the area
• the Keeper's Quarters of the Lighthouse have been restored to the early 20th century era which the Lake County Historical Society operates as a bed and breakfast.

Also on the site is the Pilothouse from the Frontenac ore boat, which contains an exhibit on its history and shipwrecks. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 19, 1984 as Two Harbors Light Station, reference number 84001483.^[2]

Courthouse. The Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence, located at 601 3rd Avenue in Two Harbors, Lake County in the U.S. state of Minnesota was built in 1906. In 1888 a two-story brick sheriff's residence and jail was erected with an adjacent Queen Anne style courthouse. A 1904 fire destroyed the courthouse, but the jail and residence remained. The replacement building, designed in the Beaux Arts style by James Allen MacLeod was built of brick and limestone, featuring quoin blocks, stone window surrounds with large keystones, dentil moulding, and four large columns supporting the entry overhang. The courtroom was topped with an open semi-circular dome covered with metallic scaled shakes. In 1945, the dome was enclosed from below. Axel Edward Soderberg was commissioned to paint murals depicting "Law and Justice", commerce, mining, and logging, at a cost of $1,500 in 1905. The jail and residence building were razed in the 1990s.^[5]