Birthdays. It’s a day we all celebrate and are reminded we’re
another year older. Depending on your age, everyone has a different viewpoint
on how soon their birthday reoccurs. I recall as a young person in school, my
sixteenth birthday couldn’t come fast enough for me because I wanted to get my
license to drive. Now that I’m much older, I no longer wish my next birthday
would hurry up and get here. However, for some reason they seem to occur faster
than in my younger years.
Besides birthdays, most people or organizations have anniversary’s
they celebrate. For example their marriage, maybe the years they’ve lived in a particular
home, the age of a historical building or an organization itself.
In thinking about birthdays and other events we celebrate, I
want to share with you a birthday/anniversary the folks in Pacific Grove, CA can
celebrate this month about their lighthouse.
The Point Pinos Lighthouse, pictured below, was built during
1853 and 1854. However, there was no lens to install after completion of the
tower. Finally, in 1855 a third-order Fresnel lens arrived. It was installed and the
lighthouse completed. It became a working lighthouse on 1 February 1855 and has
remained a working lighthouse for 162 years.
The Point Pinos Lighthouse is the oldest existing lighthouse
on the West Coast. Its tower and dwelling survived the earthquake that leveled
San Francisco in 1906, but it was severely shaken. To strengthen the weakened
structure, the original granite facade was coated with reinforced concrete.
The U.S. Coast Guard maintains the light but leases the
buildings to Pacific Grove National History Museum. This museum was open to the
public at the time of my visit there in 1999.
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