California - Point Cabrillo Lighthouse

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse is located out of Mendocino, California. It was built in 1908 and is still an active light. The Light Station was built by the US Lighthouse Service to protect the "doghole schooners" that supplied the lumber trade between San Francisco and the North Coast. These steam ships and sailing vessels were known for their ability to navigate the small coves, or "dogholes," of Mendocino's rocky headlands. The third order Fresnel lens was turned by weighted, pendulum-style, clockworks concentrating the light made by a kerosene lamp through hundreds of concentric prisms of the lens. The Point Cabrillo light shown from its 47 foot tower for the first time in 1909, and it cast a beam of light visible for 14 miles out to sea. The lighthouse also contained the fog signal, initially a siren produced by massive engines. It was later replaced by a diaphone signal.
In 1939 the lighthouse was turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1972 they automated the light and retired the fog signal and Fresnel lens in favor of an electric beacon. Through the combined efforts of staff, volunteers, and Coast Guard, the Fresnel lens was reinstated in May 1999 as the operating light. The Coast Guard was still maintaining this aids to navigation when I visited in 1999. The lighthouse was closed for restoration at the time of my visit as shown by the above picture.

California - Battery Point Lighthouse

The Battery Point Lighthouse was built in 1856 and is located in Crescent City, California. From 1856 to 1936 the U.S. Lighthouse Service was in charge of the Crescent City Light Station. Then, in 1936 the U.S. Coast Guard took over and in 1953 the light was automated. The tower contains a first order Fresnel lens which is now operated by electricity.  In 1968 the navigational need for the lighthouse was replaced by a light installed out on the jetty.  The Coast Guard continued to maintain the lens although that same year the Historical Society opened the building as a museum. In 1969 the Historical Society became responsible for operation of Battery Point for the County. The lighthouse is a working lighthouse with live in curators and serves as a private aid to navigation. The lighthouse  contains a museum with many historical displays. As seen in the picture above, the lighthouse is located on an island but can be visited after a short walk from the mainland, but only at low tide. 
During the Tsunami of 1964, the keepers were stranded on the island. Fortunately no damage was done there, however they could see the massive destruction on the mainland.

California - Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse

I visited the Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse in 1999.  It is located in the town of Trinidad California. This lighthouse, built in 1949, is a quality reproduction of the original Trinidad Head Lighthouse built in 1871.  Although it is a reproduction, it houses the fourth order Fresnel lens from the original Trinidad Head Lighthouse.  The position from which I took this picture did not enable me to capture much of the "fog bell' which sets to the left of the lighthouse. However, if you click on the picture and look closely you can see part of the bell and the framework that holds it. This is an inactive lighthouse.

Oregon - Cape Arago Lighthouse

This Cape Arago Lighthouse is located at Charleston, Oregon.  It is the third lighthouse to be built on this site from 1866 to 1934.  For a short time there were three lighthouses on the island which is affectionately named "Lighthouse Island." The island is only 100 yards from the mainland. The first lighthouse built in 1866 had a 25 foot truncated skeleton iron tower and wooden structure.  It was only 100 feet above the sea. (It became the replacement light after the first Umpqua River Lighthouse, built in 1857, was destroyed by erosion.)  In 1908 a second lighthouse was built at the opposite end of the small island, and the original lighthouse was abandoned. However, due to erosion that second lighthouse had to be replaced by a third one, as seen above.  The second lighthouse was later moved a short distance and became the keepers office. In 1937 the first (original) lighthouse was blown up.  The new lighthouse is a modern building with reinforced concrete.  It is one of the last structures built on the Pacific Coast under the Lighthouse Service.  This lighthouse was built during 1933-1934.  The tower is 44 feet tall and in 1966 the light was automated with a 1000 watt electric bulb.  It shines 24 hours a day through a fourth order lens which projects a beam of light that can be seen for 20 miles out to sea. The present lens was installed in 1998 and is solar powered.  (The original Fresnel Lens is on display by the US Coast Guard North Bend.  The site is not open to the public, but can be viewed from Sunset Bay State Park.)

Oregon - Coquille River Lighthouse

The Coquille River Lighthouse is located on the north bank of the Coquille River in Bullards Beach State Park at Bandon, Oregon. The government bought 51.38 acres for $1,200 and the total cost of construction in 1896 for the lighthouse, the fog signal, and the station buildings, including the keeper's house was $50,000. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1939 following improvements to river channel and other navigational aids.  It was restored in 1979 as an interpretive center. Tours to the tower lantern room, 28 steps, are guided by park staff and volunteers.  A solar-powered system operates the light atop the 40 foot octagonal tower, seen only from Bandon. 

Oregon - Heceta Head Lighthouse / Keepers House

The Heceta Head Lighthouse is located outside the town of Florence, Oregon. The lighthouse was built in 1894 and stands 205 feet above the ocean.  The light at the top of the 56 ft tower was automated in 1963. The beacon is visible for 21 miles out to sea and is rated as the strongest light on the OR coast. The lighthouse is an active light. I took this picture from a pull off along Hwy 101 directly across the canyon/ocean from the lighthouse using a 500mm lens. I actually took multiple pictures before I was able to get the timing just right and capture this picture of the light as it rotated.

The Queen Anne style duplex was built in 1893 to house two assistant light keepers. The head light keeper lived in a smaller house that once stood alongside the duplex.  When I visited this lighthouse in 1999, the historic assistant light keeper's house (Heceta House) was offering bed and breakfast rentals and facilities for group events. Reservations were needed to use the Heceta House.

Oregon - Cape Blanco Lighthouse

 

The Cape Blanco Lighthouse is located in Port Orford, Oregon. This lighthouse was built in 1870 at an initial cost of $100,000.  It holds at least four OR records:  (1) It is the oldest continuously operating light in OR, (2) The  most westerly in OR, (3) The highest above the sea (245 ft); the conical tower rises fifty-nine feet, (4) Oregon's first woman keeper, Mable E. Bretherton, signed on in 1903.  Automated equipment was installed by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1980. This was still an active lighthouse when I visited in 1999.                                                                                                                     

Oregon - Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is located in Newport, Oregon, and is Newport's oldest building and second oldest standing lighthouse structure on the Oregon coast.  This lighthouse was constructed in 1871 as a wood framed combination keeper's quarters and light tower.  It was the first of four such stations to be built in Oregon, and the only one of its kind that remains today.  It was in service only from 1871 to 1874 before Yaquina Head Lighthouse was commissioned.  The forty foot tower with decorative light rises from the Cape Cod style house.  It's one of few Pacific Coast lighthouses built with light keeper's living quarters in the same building as the tower. When I visited this lighthouse in 1999 it was presumably haunted by a legendary ghost.  The light was inactive and the building a museum open to the public.

Oregon - Umpqua River Light - Video