First up was the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, in Mendocino County, just south of Fort Bragg. I took the picture above as we were walking from the lighthouse point back to the parking area. I was so pleased to have caught the light beam in my picture!
The Point Cabrillo complex consists of several historical buildings in various states of restoration. One, the assistant lighthouse keeper's residence, has been completely turned into a museum that offers a fascinating glimpse into what life here was like 100 years ago.
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| this fabulous old stove is what they cooked on |
You can't go up into the lighthouse at Point Cabrillo, but the building that houses it is open, with informational displays and a small gift shop (where I indulged myself and bought a t-shirt).
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| it was a *little* foggy |
And, as you saw from the first photo above, the lighthouse is still a functional, important part of California coast navigation.
Our next stop down the coast was a more famous and older lighthouse at Point Arena, also in Mendocino County.
This site is much more developed, and the walk to and around it is more scenic than at Point Cabrillo, so I took a lot more pictures here.
Another plus for this lighthouse is that you can go up to the top!
They also have continuous docent talks in their little museum, where we learned a lot of general and specific lighthouse history.
In the museum, they house the large, double-bulls-eyed Fresnel lens that used to beam the Point Arena light signal 20 miles out to sea. What a beautiful piece of optical technology!
As we learned on our tour, Point Cabrillo currently uses a similar lens, although it's not as big.
However, the Point Arena light, which of course still functions, is a newer model and amazingly smaller. The current light, seen here closeup from atop the lighthouse, is only a little bigger than a carryon bag, and uses a THIRTY WATT bulb, but still can be seen 20 miles out!
We also saw a great, specific example of why lighthouses are needed along this coast. Inside the museum, we heard about a major shipwreck on a large rock off the Point Arena coast. Then, from atop the lighthouse, our guide pointed out the nasty submerged seastack that was responsible.
You can see it in the picture below, 'way out to sea, where the surf breaks in a very unexpected spot.
This rock is apparently several acres in area, and only 10 feet or so below the surface of the water. Talk about a hazard to navigation!
Fascinating stuff! And also quite scenic.
Here are some shots taken around the area, mostly from the top of the lighthouse:
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| where the museum and that beautiful lens are located |
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| a typical scenic view from the top |
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| sea lions out on the Point Arena rocks |
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| that garish splash of pink is flowers! |
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| windswept trees on the walk from parking area to lighthouse |
The spiral staircase, similar to the one we ascended to get all those fabulous views, provided enough stability that the lighthouse didn't collapse and the keeper was unhurt.
However, the structure eventually had to be rebuilt, as the damage was severe enough that it was unsafe. So we did not climb the original edition of the Point Arena Lighthouse, but the one that's only 105 years old.
We visited our next lighthouse the next day, but I have to be careful to say we "visited" it, not we "saw" it. We had been lucky with the fog for the whole trip, as it only drifted in occasionally to lend a little atmosphere to our photos.
But on the day we visited Point Reyes National Seashore it was completely socked in.
However, we still saw some great things there. And I'll tell you about them next time.
3 comments:
didn't the docent say that the spiral staircase was salvaged from the original and reused?
Not sure I remember him saying that, but it might be. I just remembered that it was what saved the lighthouse keeper from getting crushed.
found a detailed account here; was wondering how much mercury was used to float the lens
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