This is not a
lighthouse! That may have been your thought when you first saw the above picture.
If so, your right, but there is a lighthouse connected to my narrative about the
two pictures shown here. That lighthouse is the Umpqua River Lighthouse. I have featured it
before in my blog and in my book, The Wickie. A Photo of said lighthouse is pictured at the left of this blog post.
Pictured above is the Coastal Visitor Center (CVC) located
on the grounds of the Umpqua River Lighthouse, Winchester Bay, OR. Built in 1939, this building originally served
as the former U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters until 1971 due to moving to their
new headquarters near the water at Winchester Bay. In 1976, Douglas County Park
purchased the building and converted it to the CVC. They opened it to the
public in 1980. Top floors of the CVC now contain the museum with history about
the lighthouse as well as the Coast Guard. The basement houses a gift shop
which is the second largest gift shop on the west coast.
Pictured below is a U.S. Coast Guard Life Saving Boat. When I
worked as a volunteer at the lighthouse and museum in 2004/2005, this boat was
on display adjacent to the CVC. It was one used by the Coast Guard at this
station. The boat is 36-feet 8-inches long with a 180 HP diesel engine. There
is one feature of this boat that amazed me, and is an example of man’s
engineering. This boat was designed to right itself in 15-seconds after turning
over in rough seas. (Weights attached in the bottom of the boat made it
possible.)
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