About Two Harbors, Minnesota

Two Harbors is a small city in Lake County, Minnesota, on the eastern shore of Lake Superior, about 55 miles north of Duluth. It sits at 47°49′N 90°12′W, right where the North Shore's wilder, more industrial past meets its present — and it's one of the most characterful towns anywhere in the Upper Midwest.

Why "Two Harbors"?

The town's name comes from its two natural harbors, and its story is the story of the iron ore trade. In the late 1800s, the town was built to ship iron ore from the Mesabi Range down to the Great Lakes carriers. The Duluth, Mesabi and Interlake Railroad ran right through town, and the waterfront filled with ore docks, rail spurs, and the big iron barges that made the lakes famous.

Even today you can walk the remnants of that past along the breakwater, where the town built an engineered harbor to protect its harbor entrance — and where the community still gathers.

Lighthouse Point

The Two Harbors Light Station has watched over the harbor since 1874. The original tower stood on the point until it was destroyed by fire in 1923; the concrete tower that stands today replaced it in 1925. Lighthouse Point is the heart of the town's identity — and, as anyone who reads the bulletin board archives will tell you, the subject of a great many passionate local debates over the years.

The tugboat Edna G.

Perhaps no vessel is more beloved on the North Shore than the Edna G. Launched in 1910, she was the only steam tug built in Minnesota designed to navigate the rough waters of the Great Lakes. In the 1930s she was part of the fleet that pulled the legendary Carl D. Bradley oreboat, and for decades she worked the Duluth–Two Harbors run. She is now a museum ship, one of the most-visited historic vessels in the state, and a point of local pride that comes up constantly in the forum threads. You can even hear the working sounds of the harbor — Coast Guard foghorn, the Edna G., and an oreboat — in the 1968 harbor recording on our front page.

The Breakwater

Two Harbors' harbor entrance is protected by a large breakwater, a massive concrete structure that lets the town's small harbor survive the lake's winter storms. It's a landmark that shows up in photos, in memories, and — again — in a fair number of lively forum discussions. It's also a favorite spot to watch the ice go out in the spring.

Today: a real small town

Population in the neighborhood of 800, Two Harbors is the kind of place where the whole community shows up for Heritage Days in the summer, where the high school choir still carries on the work of Daryl D. Johnson (see the Daryl D. Johnson Foundation), and where class reunions draw folks back from all over the country. The Class Reunions board in the forum archive is full of them.

Winter brings the North Shore's best — and worst — weather, the lake ice, and the quiet, and the town still runs on the same mix of fishing, tourism, and small-business life it always has. It's not a postcard. It's a real place, and it's why this forum existed for nearly a decade.

Getting around & nearby

• Grand Marais — about 20 miles south, the North Shore's largest town, full of galleries and the famous 43-foot lighthouse.
• Gooseberry Falls State Park — one of Minnesota's great waterfall parks, a short drive south on Highway 61.
• Split Rock Lighthouse State Park — south of Duluth, on the same lake.
• Duluth — the major city at the western end of Lake Superior, about an hour away.