Historically Famous Lighthouses

CALIFORNIA PIGEON POINT LIGHTHOUSE

Reading edition

On Coastal Highway, 5 miles south of Pescadero.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast, the 115-foot white masonry tower standing on a rocky promontory long a landmark for ships approaching San Francisco Bay from the southward.

Illustration from Historically Famous Lighthouses CG-232

This lighthouse was built in 1872, and is equipped with a lens of the first order producing a light of 500,000 candlepower. The station also has an electrically operated fog signal. This headland, and hence the lighthouse, took its name from the ship Carrier Pigeon wrecked here many years ago. (1) (2)

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · Inspection Reports by Army, Navy, Revenue Cutter Officers and Special Agents of the Treasury Department—The National Archives, Washington, D Note 2 · Annual Reports of the Lighthouse Board—1852-1910.