Point Reyes Light, California - # - Lighthouse Guy Photo's & Gifts

Lighthouse Guy Photo's & Gifts

Located 30 miles northwest of the Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco, Point Reyes is a peninsula which extends 10 miles into the Pacific Ocean. Ships sailing south along the coast would turn for San Francisco after passing the point. Since it was one of the foggiest and windiest spots in the United States, the Light House Board planned to build a lighthouse on the point as early as 1855.

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Construction of the Point Reyes Lighthouse was delayed for 17 years due to court battles over land ownership with local ranchers. During the interim seven ships came to grief on the rocks of Point Reyes before the federal government began condemnation proceedings for the land. A deed for 83 acres was finally signed in 1869.

Originally the Light House Board had planned on building a Cape Cod style dwelling with a lantern at the top of the point similar to other California lighthouse stations of the 1850’s. Experience with the fog obscuring the lights visibility taught them to build the light at a lower elevation.

A construction contract was awarded to Joseph Bien who had recently completed building the tower at Cape Mendocino. Bien designed a 16 sided tower of forged iron plates bolted to a concrete foundation. A portion of rock was leveled 290 feet above sea level for the lighthouse. A two story duplex dwelling was built above the lighthouse with 308 steps leading down the cliff to the tower.

The tower was completed and Keeper John C. Bull lit the rotating First Order Fresnel lens on December 1, 1870. Construction of the fog signal building with a 12 inch steam whistle began 100 feet below the lighthouse tower and was completed by June 1871. Unfortunately the fog signal building burned down a year later and had to be rebuilt.

The Point Reyes station had difficulty retaining Keepers. The isolation (the nearest town was 20 miles away) and harsh conditions resulted in resignations or Keepers turning to the bottle. Winds gusted up to 100 miles per hour and the foghorn would blow constantly for days on end.

In 1934 the fog signal was relocated to a new building just below the lighthouse. Electricity came to Point Reyes in 1938 replacing the kerosene lamp. In 1960 the Coast Guard razed the original Keepers duplex and built a four unit apartment complex on the same site.

In 1975 the station was automated and a small automated light was installed alongside the tower. The lighthouse and lens were left intact to serve as a backup. In 1977 the station was transferred to the Point Reyes National Seashore who opened the property to the public. In 2003 a $1.2 million renovation of the station was completed. Today the station looks very much as it did back in 1870.

A old National Archives photo of the Point Reyes lighthouse shortly after its completion in the 1870's.

Construction of the Point Reyes Lighthouse was delayed for 17 years due to court battles over land ownership with local ranchers. During the interim seven ships came to grief on the rocks of Point Reyes before the federal government began condemnation proceedings for the land. A deed for 83 acres was finally signed in 1869.