Point Arena Light is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, two miles (3 km) north of

Point Arena, California Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena (Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, at an elevation of . The population was 460 at the 2020 cens ...

. It is approximately north of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, in the Fort Point Group of lighthouses. The lighthouse features a small museum and gift shop. Guided tours of the light station as well as self-guided tours of the grounds are available daily.

Geography

The first European to record Point Arena was Spaniard

Bartolomé Ferrer Bartolomé Ferrer, also known as Bartolomé Ferrelo, was born in 1499 in the region of Levante, Spain, or in Bilbao, Biscay, and died in 1550 in Mexico. He was the pilot for Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the Portuguese captain who was sent by the vice ...

in 1543, who named it Cabo de Fortunas ("cape of fortunes"). in 1775,

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (22 May 1743 – 26 March 1794) was a Spanish Criollo naval officer operating in the Americas. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in Viceroyalty of New Spain (present ...

(commander of the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Sonora'') renamed the cape Punta Delgado ("narrow point") during a royal expedition

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

ed by the Viceroyalty of New Spain to map the north coast of

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

. Later the point and the small harbor town south of it were called Barra de Arena ("sandbar") and finally Point Arena ("sand point"). Point Arena is a narrow

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

jutting about 1/2 mile (800 m) into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. This sandbar creates a natural hazard to navigation, hence the need for a lighthouse and

fog signal A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...

The first lighthouse

The lighthouse at this site was constructed in 1870. The

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

tower included ornate iron balcony supports and a large keeper residence with enough space to house several families. In April 1906, the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

struck the light station. The keeper's residence and lighthouse were damaged so severely that they had to be demolished.

The rebuilding

The

United States Lighthouse Board The United States Lighthouse Board was the second agency of the U.S. federal government, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the construction and maintenance of all lighthouses and navigation aids in the United States, between 1852 ...

contracted with a San Francisco-based company to build a new lighthouse on the site and specified that it had to withstand earthquakes. The company chose normally built factory smokestacks, which accounts for the final design for the new Point Arena Lighthouse, featuring steel reinforcement rods encased in concrete. This was the first lighthouse built this way. The new lighthouse began operation in 1908, nearly 18 months after the quake. It stands tall, and featured a 1st Order

Fresnel Lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

, over six feet in diameter and weighing more than six tons. The lens was made up of 666 hand-ground glass prisms, all focused toward three sets of double bullseyes. These bullseyes gave Point Arena Lighthouse its unique "light signature" of two flashes every six seconds. The optics, which held an appraised value of over $3.5 million, were set in solid

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

framework and built in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

The light

Before the introduction of electricity, the lens was rotated by a clockwork mechanism. The keepers, or "wickies", hand-cranked a 160-pound weight up the lighthouse's center shaft every 75 minutes to keep the lens turning. Light was produced by a "Funck" hydraulic oil lamp that needed to be refueled every four hours and whose wicks had to be trimmed regularly. Later, two 1,000-

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

electric lamps were installed to replace the oil lamp, and a

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

electric motor was installed to replace the clockworks.

Modernization

In 1978, the station's original fog signal was silenced and a bell

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

was placed nearby. June 1977 brought the installation of an automated aircraft-type beacon on the balcony tower, and the historic 1st Order Fresnel Lens was discontinued. At the time, the lens was the only

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

-floated light still in existence in the Twelfth

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

District. The 400-pound aircraft beacon had been replaced by a 40-pound modern rotating light that incorporates the Fresnel principles for the efficient projection of light.

Reliability

battery-powered An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negat ...

emergency system is installed as a backup in the event of a power failure. In addition, a

radio beacon In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction-finding equipment to find relative bearing. But instead of employing visible light, radio beacons transmit electromagnet ...

, with a signal that originates from the station, assists mariners. The original oil lamp was visible for approximately , the 1st Order Fresnel Lens for , and the current modern rotating light for .

Staffing

Four men staffed this family station and were provided with quarters as follows: one 4-bedroom unit and three 3-bedroom units. Other buildings are the light tower, paint locker, fuel locker, bosun locker and buildings housing the fire pump, water pumps and

JP-5 Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial av ...

fueling pumps. The station had a half-ton pickup truck assigned which, among other things, was utilized to transport dependent schoolchildren to school from the station.

Today

In 1984, a nonprofit organization called the Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers acquired the light station as part of a 25-year land lease from the Coast Guard and the Department of Transportation. In November 2000, the nonprofit group became the official owners of the property due to its diligent historic preservation and educational efforts. Daily visitation, gift store sales, memberships and the rental of the historic keepers' homes on the property as vacation houses all provide income to the group for ongoing preservation, facility upgrades, and educational endeavors. The Point Arena Light is

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

No. 1035. File:Fog Signal Building at Point Arena Lighthouse.jpg, Fog Signal Building at Point Arena Lighthouse Image:Fresnel_Lens_at_Point_Arena_Lighthouse_Museum.jpg, The Fresnel lens seen in the museum in this 2012 photo

In popular culture

The final scenes of the

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

movie '' Forever Young'' (1992) were filmed near the lighthouse. The lighthouse also appears in the 2014 movie ''

Need for Speed ''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of ''Burnout''. The series generally centers around illicit street racing and tasks players to com ...

'', as the finishing point of the De Leon underground

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

race that forms the climax of the film.

Marine Protected Areas

The

Point Arena State Marine Reserve & Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area Point Arena State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore of Point Arena in Mendocino County on California’s north central coast. The combined area o ...

are two

marine protected areas Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

that extend offshore from Point Arena.

Sea Lion Cove State Marine Conservation Area Sea Lion Cove State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area that lies onshore, just south of Point Arena in Mendocino County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected area covers 0.22 square miles. Sea Lio ...

and

Saunders Reef State Marine Conservation Area Saunders Reef State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area that extends offshore, just south of Schooner Gulch State Beach and north of Sail Rock in Mendocino County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected ar ...

lie south of Point Arena. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

References

External links

*
Live Webcams at Point Arena Light
{{Authority control California Historical Landmarks Lighthouses completed in 1870 Lighthouses completed in 1908 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Mendocino County, California 1870 establishments in California