Table Bluff Lighthouse is a
lighthouse in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
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 territori ...
, which was located on
Table Bluff just south of
Humboldt Bay. Built to guide vessels away from the notoriously dangerous and rough coastline and to let them know proximity of the nearby bay and entrance, the lighthouse was one of the first to be automated. The lighthouse tower portion is now located at the Woodley Island Marina within the City of
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
.
History
Table Bluff Lighthouse was built in 1892. A fixed, fourth-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 ...
was removed from the
Humboldt Harbor Light and installed in the tower at Table Bluff in late October 1892.
In 1911, the fixed Fresnel lens was replaced with a revolving one. A modern optic was installed in the tower, and the Fresnel lens was shipped to San Diego to be displayed in the Old
Point Loma Light. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1975.
The Humboldt Harbor Light located on the north spit of the Humboldt Bay Bar entrance had for many years been criticized as being too low. In 1892 the Lighthouse Service constructed a light station on Table Bluff, a promontory south of Humboldt Bay, but within-view of the bay. The original station consisted of a duplex Victorian quarters, fog-signal building, and a keepers quarters with light tower attached. The quarters were redwood Italianette-stick Victorian, and the keepers quarters/ light tower were almost exactly the same as
San Luis Obispo Light. There were also two wash houses, an oil house and a carpenter shop. In 1906 the Navy established a radio station on the property and during World War II the station was expanded to include lodging for mounted beach patrols, a coastal lookout post, and a radio compass station. During the war and immediately afterwards most of the original buildings were razed along with some of the newer structures. The quarters portion of the lighthouse was razed leaving only the tower. This and the fog signal building were all that remained of the original buildings.
left, USCG photo shows lighthouse complex. Note lighthouse on lower left corner of photo. Circa 1951
In 1953 the rotating 4th order lens was removed and a fixed 3½ order lens installed. The 4th order optic was shipped to the Point Loma Light in San Diego which is operated as a museum by the National Park Service. The
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 ...
was discontinued the same year and the station automated. In 1975 the light was discontinued and the property transferred to GSA and sold. The 2½ order lens was shipped to the
Smithsonian.
The lighthouse tower was cut in two and moved to Woodley Island Marina in Eureka () in 1987. The lens in it now is not the original.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in the United States
This is a list of lighthouses in the United States. The United States has had approximately a thousand lights as well as light towers, range lights, and pier head lights. Michigan has the most lights of any state with over 150 past and present l ...
References
*
External links
{{authority control
Lighthouses completed in 1892
Lighthouses in California
Eureka, California
Transportation buildings and structures in Humboldt County, California
1892 establishments in California
