Lighthouse of the Week, April 10-16, 2022: Point Cabrillo Light Station, California, USA

 

I've featured several lighthouses in California in the "Lighthouse of the Week" attraction on my blog, and this one may be the most isolated.  This is the Point Cabrillo Light Station, well up the coast north of San Francisco, and if you could point on a map of the state to the nearest notable town, Mendocino, without looking it up first, I'd be impressed with your knowledge of geography.  This is basically the land of coast and redwoods.

Point Cabrillo has its own Web site:  Point Cabrillo Light Station - California State Historic Park

Because it is very isolated, there are several dwelling places located next to it, where (presumably) light station staff could live.  

Let's find out more about it.

Here's what is located there, according to the Web site above:

'The Light Station includes:

- our Lighthouse, which is an active duty Aid to Navigation, containing the original Chance Brothers classic 3rd order Fresnel lens;
- three restored Lightkeeper homes; the first house is a period museum of a lightkeeper’s house in the 1930s; the other two houses are comfortable vacation rental homes;
- the restored Blacksmith and Carpentry Shop, which houses the Marine Science Exhibit with its 240 gallon saltwater aquarium;
- three restored storage buildings behind the residences; two of these have been converted to lovely vacation rental cottages, the other is a public restroom."

Location, location, location:  you'll have to zoom out a bit to find San Francisco. 

Now, to find out more historically, I'll turn to the Lighthouse Directory.

"1909. Active; focal plane 84 ft (25.5 m); white flash every 10 s. 47 ft (14.5 m) octagonal cylindrical wood tower on a 1-story wood fog signal building. The original 3rd order Fresnel lens was restored to use in 1999. Original 1-1/2 story wood keeper's house. This is a complete light station, including two assistant keeper's houses (1908), oil house (1912), and other buildings." ...

In 2014 the Coast Guard proposed to deactivate the light and remove the lens but after discussions it dropped these plans. Located on a spectacular headland nearly surrounded by the ocean, at the end of Lighthouse Road, off CA 1 about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Caspar and 4 mi (6.5 km) north of Mendocino."

So below, pictures, and a video borrowed from the Web site.

Decorated tastefully for Christmas.

Video: