The Yaquina Bay 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 ...
that was built in 1871, soon after the founding of the city of
Newport,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, in the
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 ...
. It is located on the north side of
Yaquina Bay
Yaquina Bay ( ) is a coastal estuarine community found in Newport, Oregon, United States. Yaquina Bay is a semi-enclosed body of water, approximately 8 km² (3.2 mi²) in area, with free connection to the Pacific Ocean, but also diluted ...
. In 1871–1874, it was the busiest and most populated of the many coastal ports between Washington and California. There are many trails that lead down to the beach, great free public access.
History
The Yaquina Bay Light was built by Ben Simpson
and first lit on November 3, 1871. It was active for only three years due to the establishment of the larger
Yaquina Head Light in 1873 that was located just north of the Yaquina Bay Light. So the lighthouse was decommissioned on October 1, 1874, because the newer Yaquina Head Light made it obsolete. The
fifth-order Fresnel lens was then installed in the
Yerba Buena Light
Yerba Buena Lighthouse is a lighthouse in California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay on Yerba Buena Island, California
History
The island's lighthouse connection began in 1873 when the Lighthouse Service moved the district's depot fr ...
in California for its opening in 1875.
The
used the lighthouse from 1888 to 1896 as their living quarters while they built the North and South Jetties at the mouth of Yaquina Bay. The
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 ...
later used the lighthouse as lookout and living quarters from 1906 to 1915, before moving to their more central quarters which overlooked the busy Newport bayfront. During this period, the Coast Guard also built the eight-story steel observation tower that still stands next to the original lighthouse.
In 1934, the
Oregon State Highway Division bought the property around the lighthouse to build a new state park. The park site included the lighthouse, the Coast Guard observation tower, and many acres of forested bluff, ocean dunes and surrounding beaches. It is now the Yaquina Bay State Recreation Area and consists of 32 acres of several day-use areas including hiking trails, picnic areas, fishing, and beach access, and has approximately 1,700,000 visitors per year.
Sometime later in 1946, the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition, which led to the formation of the
Lincoln County Historical Society to save it. They raised money for three years to save the dilapidated structure, and got a delay. But by 1951, demolition was again scheduled. Then, Mr. L. E. Warford, who had recently moved to Newport from Ohio, arranged for the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse to be recognized as a historical site supervised by the Historical Society. It served as a county museum for 18 years until 1970.
The lighthouse was then listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1970,
[ and restored under the Historic Preservation Act in 1974. At that time, its ownership was transferred to the ]Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pro ...
.
The light was re-lit on December 7, 1996, with "a modern optic, on loan from lighthouse historian James A. Gibbs
James A. "Jim" Gibbs (January 17, 1922 – April 30, 2010) was a United States author, lighthouse keeper, and Maritime history of the United States, maritime historian.
He was one of the lighthouse keepers at Tillamook Rock Light for a year beg ...
." The lighthouse is now a privately maintained navigational aid belonging to the U.S. Coast Guard that displays "a fixed white light visible for six miles," and is open for public viewing and tours daily.
The Yaquina Bay structure is the only existing lighthouse in the state in which the living quarters are housed in the same building as the light. Only a few with this arrangement were built on the entire Pacific coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas
Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
.
The building is reputed to be haunted. The haunting is the subject of a fictional work by a local author called ''The Lighthouse Ghost Of Yaquina Bay''.
See also
* Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site
Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site, established in 1948, is a coastal state park in west-central Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, in the city of Newport. It is administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and located at the n ...
* List of lighthouses in Oregon
References
External links
Yaquina Bay Light entry in National Park Service inventory of historic lighthouses
(web archive)
Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses
from Splintercat
{{Authority control
Lighthouses completed in 1871
Houses completed in 1871
Oregon Coast
Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Newport, Oregon
Lighthouse museums in Oregon
Transportation buildings and structures in Lincoln County, Oregon
Museums in Lincoln County, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Oregon
1871 establishments in Oregon