Point Cabrillo Light
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Point Cabrillo 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 ...
in northern California, United States, between
Point Arena Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena (Spanish language, Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, California, H ...
and Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of
Caspar Caspar is a masculine given name. It may refer to: People * Caspar (magus), a name traditionally given to one of the Three Magi in the Bible who brought the baby Jesus gifts *Caspar Austa (born 1982), Estonian cyclist *Caspar Badrutt (1848–1904) ...
. It has been a federal aid to navigation since 1909. It is part of the California state park system as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park. It should not be confused with the inactive Old Point Loma Lighthouse or the active
New Point Loma Lighthouse The New Point Loma Lighthouse (officially Point Loma Light) is a lighthouse at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California. History It was first lighted on March 23, 1891, replacing the Old Point Loma Lighthouse whic ...
in San Diego, both of which lie within the grounds of Cabrillo National Monument and are sometimes referred to as the Cabrillo lighthouse.


Description

The Point Cabrillo Lighthouse complex is located about north of Mendocino, California, and includes the lighthouse itself together with several outbuildings. Most of the original structures remain, but the barn is missing: in 1986 it was destroyed in a fire department exercise. The remaining lighthouse station is "one of the most complete light stations in the United States".. Atop the lighthouse spins a third-order Fresnel lens with four panels containing 90 lead glass prisms and weighing 6800 pounds, constructed by Chance Brothers, an English company, and shipped to Point Cabrillo around Cape Horn. The light is only above the ground, but because of the height of the headlands it stands above sea level. It was originally lit by a
kerosene lamp A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a t ...
and turned by a clockwork mechanism which was replaced by an electric light and motor in 1935. The present light uses a single 1000-watt electric filament. Depending on atmospheric conditions, the Fresnel lens creates a focused beam which can be seen to the horizon and beyond. The beam rotates once every 40 seconds, producing a flash every 10 seconds.


History

Point Cabrillo Point Cabrillo is a sandstone headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of Mendocino County, California, between the towns of Mendocino, California and Fort Bragg, California. It is the location of the Point Cabrillo Light. Geography-wise, it lies betw ...
, the sandstone headland on which the Point Cabrillo Light lies, was named in 1870 by the United States Geological Survey after the Portuguese explorer João Rodrigues Cabrilho, although Cabrillo's voyage of exploration on behalf of Spain along the California coast did not reach as far north as the point. Because Spain controlled early California, the Spanish derivation of his name is the one used today. The opium-trading brig '' Frolic'' wrecked on a reef north of Point Cabrillo in 1850; the investigation of the wreck by agents of Henry Meiggs led to the discovery of the coast redwood forests of the Mendocino area and the beginning of the timber trade that would drive the local economy for decades.. In 1873, Point Cabrillo was surveyed as a potential site for a lighthouse; however, no lighthouse was built at that time. By 1904, several shipwrecks later, the
U.S. Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of the ...
recommended that a lighthouse be placed at the point. The bill to fund its construction, Senate Bill 6648, passed in June 1906, and the government bought 30 acres of land on Point Cabrillo from rancher David Gordon for $3,195. The lighthouse was constructed by the Lindgren Company beginning in 1908, and began operation in 1909. Its first light keeper was Wilhelm Baumgartner, who held the position until 1923. In 1935, an air diaphone supertyfone sound signal (aka foghorn) was installed. The United States Coast Guard took over the Lighthouse Service in 1939. The lighthouse building sustained major damage in 1960 after a storm caused waves that crested above the light and flooded the building with mud, but the lens remained undamaged. Later during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the station was used to simulate a Soviet radar base in training exercises. The Coast Guard manned the station until 1973, when the lens was covered and a modern rotating beacon was mounted on a metal stand on the roof west of the lantern room. In 1988 the
California Coastal Conservancy The California State Coastal Conservancy (CSCC, SCC) is a non-regulatory state agency in California established in 1976 to enhance coastal resources and public access to the coast. The CSCC is a department of the California Natural Resources Agenc ...
began buying the land surrounding the light station, and in 1991 the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places. However, the California State Park System declined to take over the land at that time because of state budget shortfalls; instead, the station was managed for nine years by a non-profit organization, the North Coast Interpretive Association. Beginning in 1996, the NCIA organized a major restoration of the station to the state it would have been in the 1930s, after it was electrified, including a return to active duty of the main lens of the light. In 1999, the original third-order Fresnel lens was reinstalled after being upgraded to meet more modern standards. Before it could be used the light had to be as reliable as a Directional Code Beacon, which is commonly used at airports. The restored lighthouse was opened to the public in August 2001, and appeared in the Warner Bros. 2001 drama film '' The Majestic''. In 2002, California State Parks purchased the light station for four million dollars. The NCIA then became the Point Cabrillo Light Keeper Association, which continues to run the station for the state park system. The light itself is recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard as an official Aid to Navigation, on current USCG navigation charts, and is operationally maintained by the USCG Auxiliary. The station won the Governor's Historic Preservation Award in 2007, and the Preservation Design Award of the California Preservation Foundation in the same year. A hiking trail, part of the California Coastal Trail, was established in 2011 and connects the light station to
Caspar Headlands State Beach Caspar Headlands State Beach is a protected beach in the state park system of California, United States. It is located in Northern California in Mendocino County near the village of Caspar. The park was established in 1972. History In the ...
one mile to the north, passing Frolic Cove along the way.The Caspar Uplands Trail
Mendocino Land Trust, retrieved 2011-03-16.


See also

* List of lighthouses in the United States *
List of Museums in the North Coast (California) The North Coast of California is located on the Pacific coast in between the San Francisco Bay and the Oregon border and includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino counties. This list of North Coast, California museums, defined for ...


References


External links


Point Cabrillo Lighthouse and Preserve

Point Cabrillo Light Station
Official California State Parks page.
Lighthouse Friends: Point Cabrillo
{{authority control Transportation buildings and structures in Mendocino County, California Lighthouses completed in 1909 Lighthouse museums in California Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Museums in Mendocino County, California Parks in Mendocino County, California State parks of California National Register of Historic Places in Mendocino County, California