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Santa Barbara Lighthouse was 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 ...
,
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, on the Santa Barbara Harbor,
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 ...
.


History

When Santa Barbara Lighthouse was established on December 1, 1856, it was typical of the other pioneer West Coast lights, with the tower rising through the center of the dwelling. The builder was George D. Nagle of
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
who received $8,000 for his efforts. The tower lantern was fitted with a fourth order lens and originally displayed a fixed red light, which in later years was changed to fixed white. * Historical Information by United States Coast Guard: Women lighthouse keepers were not uncommon in early American lighthouses. Santa Barbara is a premier example. When the lighthouse was officially established in 1856, Albert Johnson Williams was appointed as the initial keeper. After nine years of operating the facility he grew tired of his routine chores and handed over the duties to his wife. She proved so adept at keeping a good house that the government made it official on June 5, 1865, with the appointment receiving a great amount of publicity in the locality. Taking great pride in her work, Mrs. Julia F. Williams kept at her duties for more than 40 years during which time she was only away from the lighthouse on two nights. During her faithful vigil only one shipwreck of consequence was recorded, the cause of which was carelessness on the part of the skipper who allowed his vessel to drift on the rocks. Julia Williams was a descendant of a Maine family and she had come to California with her husband during the gold rush era. She raised three boys and two girls at the lighthouse. In 1905, her vigil finally ended when she fell from a couch and broke her hip. She was 81 years old when she was relieved by another woman, a Mrs. Jones. On June 29, 1925, a severe earthquake jolted the area and the aging lighthouse was unable to stand against it. It was 6:45 a.m. and keeper Weeks was asleep at the time. Suddenly and rudely awakened, he rushed from the dwelling, then hurried back inside to rescue his mother, sister, and brother. When the cloud of dust had settled, little was left of the old structure. A temporary frame tower was erected until a new lighthouse could be built. The current light is on a bluff at , inside a fenced Coast Guard compound with housing and a playground. It is visible from Shoreline Drive and the La Mesa Park pedestrian bridge.


Keepers

* Albert J. Williams (1856 – 1860) * Rafiel Guirado (1860) * Charles Talma (1860 – 1861) * Samuel Robert J. Sturgeon (1861 – 1865) * Julia F. Williams (1865 – 1905) * Caroline Morse (1905 – 1911) * George A. Hussey (1911 – 1913) * Harley Alonzo Weeks (1913 – 1925) * Caroline Weeks (1925) * Raymond H. Weeks (1925 – 1943)Santa Barbara, CA
Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved 16 June 2016


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

*
Lighthouse Friends page
{{authority control Lighthouses in California Buildings and structures in Santa Barbara, California Lighthouses completed in 1856 1856 establishments in California Transportation buildings and structures in Santa Barbara County, California